! LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I 



| <g3Cy*. .32.1135 | 



| UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. | 



ORIGINAL ESSAYS 



ON THE 



OBGANS OF THE HUMAN MIND; 



AN ESSAY 



EVIL HABITS OF SOCIETY, LOVE COURTSHIP, AND 
EARLY MARRIAGE. 



A SONG OF LOVE, THE EXILE'S LAMENT. 



J<Z I 

,r# / BY ROBERT EDMOJND. 



f 



S Charleston, S. <£. 
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, 

1S47 






ENTERED according to "An Act of Congress," in the Clerk's Office by 
Robert Edmund, in the District Court of the Eastern District of South 
Carolina. 



ORIGINAL ESSAYS 
ON 



THE HUMAN MIND. 



ON HAPPINESS. 

This is a subject that all like to read, and when they have read it' 
they would also like to posses it, and if they want to possess it, they 
must take the road that leads to it. There are two roads in this world; 
a right and wrong ; take the right and you are sure to posses it, take 
the wrong and you never shall. To look over the face of nature there 
is a chain of harmony which links them all together. And if we look 
to man, we will see that all are engaged in some pursuit or other, and 
have an object in view, and they all suppose that their happiness will 
be perfect after they have arrived at that object. When to their mis- 
take they find that their happiness was, in trying to get at the object 
they wanted. 

Man's happiness depends upon his organization, and the circum- 
stances in which he is placed. There are some persons so organized 
and whose tempers are so bad that they are never happy, let them be 
placed in ever so good circumstances. And to ask them what happi- 
ness is, they cannot tell, because they never knew themselves, for 
they are always fighting and quarreling with some person. Their are 
others who are born with a happy disposition, who are gentle, and 
mild, and loving and kind, to both man and beast, within whose soul 
ambition never reigned, and their is always a smile upon their coun- 
tenance, and the sound of their voice is like a well stringed instru- 
ment, whose sweet sound echoes through the very soul. Such 
persons are ever happy v amidst cares and sorrows its all the same, they 
neither pine, nor murmur at their lot, they are contented and happy 
when they have little, and they are not over proud when they have 
plenty, and they always try to make themselves and others as happy 
as they can. 

I have come to the conclusion, in my own mind, that there is no 
real happiness on this earth, and this is well arranged by the All-wise 
Creator. If man was to be perfectly happy in this world, they would 
forget God and the world to come, — when men are happy and in 
prosperity, they forget God and the world to come. And God per- 
mits those afflictions to come upon man for his good. The rich man 
dreads death, and it vexes him to think that he has to die and leave all 
his fine houses and land behind him. And the idea that he shall be no 
better, neither shall he be any more thought of, then the poor, makes 
him shudder at the very thought of death. Audit would make the poor 
man miserable, if he thought that he had to live always, and suffer the 
privations of want and to be made a drudge forever. And it's that 
blessed thought of being happy hereafter which makes him happy 
here. 



But men have got very strange ideas with regard to happiness. 
The poor think that if they were rich they would be happy, when 
they see the rich man riding in his carriage with a tram- of servants 
attending upon him — he lives in a fine big house with marble steps at 
the door ; and his name carved on a brass plate and shining like gold. 
Now the poor man thinks that if he had all these things, that he 
would be happy, but he would soon find out, that his search had been 
in vain, for after he had all those things, he would still have a desire 
for more. When he looks at the rich man he envies him, he wishes 
that he was like hiin, he thinks that the rich man has no cares, nor 
sorrows, that all is calm and peace. The rich man on the other hand 
when he looks at the poor man he envies him, and wishes that he 
was only as happy as that poor man; but this is only a mere expres- 
sion. But he might well wish to be as happy as the poor man, for 
riches often drive away God from the rich man's heart ; and where 
God is not, there is no real true happiness. For God is the only 
source of all true happiness. If a man has not made up his peace 
with God, and feel a sign of forgiveness in his heart, he never can be 
happy in this world. There is a certain line, and if man goes beyond 
that line, he can never be truly happy. If a person gets too rich, he 
is liable to forget God, who gives him health and the advantages to ac- 
quire it, when persons get rich they very often get proud, and vain in 
their imaginations, and they look down with scorn and contempt upon 
their fellow man. And it is as bad on the other side ; if a person 
should gettoo poor and not have the necessaries of life, he thinks that 
every body knows he is poor, and he is dispised and looked down 
upon because lie is poor, and in fact poverty is looked upon by the most 
of men as a crime. And if a poor person has not got their mind well 
grounded in the principles of honesty, they are very liable to be led by 
their wants to do things that are not just. Although I have seen many 
a poor wretch who did not know where to get his dinner, or where to 
lay his head at night, both happy and cheerful, and seemed to think 
little about it. But this is a condition which no person would like to 
be in, and if true happiness was only to be found amongst that class of 
individuals, there would be few that would seek after it. True hap- 
piness is not to be found among neither the too rich, nor the too poor, 
neither is it found in the ball room, nor in the theatre. But if there be 
happiness any where to be found, its among the middling classes. 
They are neither too poor or too rich, they do something for their liv- 
ing, and this enables them to enjoy all the necessaries of life, and this 
does not only keen their bodies employed, but their minds also. But 
their is no real happiness in this world, all have a something that no 
person knows but themselves. 

It was early one morning in the spring of the year, I walked forth 
to inhale the sweet morning air. It was as lovely a morning as ever 
sMned, the sky was clear, the air was balmy, and the golden rays of 
the sun was shining in the distant trees, and dazzling on the tops of the 
waters. I was in a melancholy mood, and my spirits were much 
past down, the cares and anxieties oi a business life, were working 



upon my mind; every person seemed to be cheerful and gay, and I even 
envied the little birds who sat singing in among the trees, I wished in 
my own heart, and said to myself, I wish I was as those little birds 
who sing their morning song without cares or sorrows. I stood and 
listened to one in particular whose song was more plaintive than the 
others. After it was done singing its song, I spoke to it ; What is 
thy grief* little bird, and why is thy song so plaintive, are you not hap- 
py? " I am not happy," replied the little bird, " my mate and I were 
building our nest in the yonder tree, and a savage fowler came along 
and shot him down, and the strong ties that nature has implanted in 
my breast, makes me sing his funeral song," and away it flew. 

I met Mr. M , the other day, with a fine little boy in his hand, they 

were both dressed very genteel and looking gay and happy, he shook 
hands with me, and passed the compliment of the day. He invited 
me to his house, to come and spend the evening with him. I went 
according to my promise, — he lived in a large house, No. 20 W. S. 
It was a cold and bitter night, and after i had left my lodgings I wish- 
ed I had staid at home. When I went to Mr. M , he was sitting 

in his parlour reading a religious book, which treated upon the immor- 
tality of the soul, he seemed to be very happy and talkative, and he 
asked me a great many questions, that I was unable to answer, I 
looked around and every thing was neat and in proper order — his 
house was handsomely furnished, he had several servants attending 
him ; and there seemed nothing wanting to make a man happy. 

. You must be a happy man, Mr. M , said I. He looked to the 

ground and shook his head. No ! far from being real happy. And 
were it not that 1 have studied the nature and disposition of man, I 
would have committed suicide before this time, and if you will just sit 
down for about five minutes, I will show you that there is no lasting hap- 
piness on this earth, that every person has something to troubled them. 
" When I was a boy at school," with his eyes fixed on me as if he 
could have penetrated through my very soul, and speaking in a low 
mild voice. "I used to think that if I was only done with my education 
and following some business that I would then be happy. And after 
I had left the school and gone to learn a trade, I was not happy. I 
thought if I was only done with my trade, and in business for myself, 
that surely I would be happy then. But there was a something want- 
ing still, and if I had that I thought my happiness would then be 
complete. 

I thought if I was only married, that I would then be happy. 

There was a Miss B , that I had my affections set upon, for some 

time. She was a sweet girl, lovely and mild in her disposition ; we 
used to go to the same church, and sat in the same seat, and after the 
church was over we used to walk together, and many a happy night 
we have passed while walking by ourselves in the moonlight nights, 
and when she was with me everything had a more lovely appearance, 
the stars sinned brighter, and the moon gave a more brilliant light. 

But I did not succeed in business in that town, and I left and came 
to this place, and 1 have got on in business ever since I came here. 



And shortly after I came here, I wrote a love letter to her." I told 
him that it was getting late, and I would have to be going home, 
" Just sit down for five minutes if you please, and I will read it to 
you." He went to his desk to look for his song, but the desk was 
locked, and he could not find the key, I rose to go home, " one min- 
ute more said he, I have found it," he had wrote it in a book among 
some other composition. " I love to read this, it calls to my memory 
many a sweet scene that is passed," said Mr. M to me. 

I often think on thee my love, 

Although I'm far away from thee, 
And on that sweet and lovely place, 

I used to walk with thee. 

How cheerful did we pass those hours, 

How swift they new away, 
When in each others arms we pressed 

And love our hearts did sway. 

Those pleasant hours I'll n'er forget, 

When first we used to meet, 
And Oh ! how glad and haprjy we used to be 

When each other we did greet. 

And many anight we've walked alone, 

With our hands clasped in each other, 
And how we sought to be alone, 

That we might talk and love each other. 

And when the clock did strike the hour, 

That hour we had to part. 
But one kiss more, just at the door,^ 

And then good night my love we part. 

And O ! how long the hours appeared, 

Till once we meet again, 
When round the cheerful fire we sat. 

Our hopes to us were gain. 

Those happy hours I'll ne'er forget, 

Although I'm far from thee, 
My memory does recall sweet words, 

That you did speak to me. 

Why you are quite a poet. Mr. M- , I was not aware of thy 

literary attainments before. When all at once he interrupted me say- 
ing, " And we were just going to be married in two months from that 
very day, that I sent my letter ; and about three days afterwards I re- 
ceived a letter from her father giving me an account of her death, which 
grieved me for sometime. 1 have been married for several years, but 
my wife and I don't agree, we live very unhappy, and were it not for 
my children we could not live together, but the children ties us to- 
gether more than the marriage lines, and though I live in this splendid 
condition, and have every thing that a person wants, yet I am not 
happy, and I will disclose to you, what I have never done to any 



other person, which has been the cause of all my misery since I was 
married, and the thing was when I was first married." And Mr. 

M , had no sooner pronounced the word married, when his lady 

came in dressed up in the finest style, and interrupted him in his 
speech, it was getting late and I left the pair together. But I had 
learned that happiness did not dwell in that house. 

If we were to go to every person on the face of the earth, and ask 
them one by one, if they were happy, they would tell you No, that 
there was something wanting to complete their happiness, Our na- 
tures are so constituted, that we never can be really happy. We are 
subject to so many accidents that if we are happy one day, something 
will come that we have no control over, and mar our peace. And if 
no accidents were to happen to ourselves, we have got that fellow feel- 
ing for others that makes us unhappy when we hear of anything be- 
falling our fellow man. Our happiness therefore, consists not only 
in being happy ourselves but in seeing others happy also. We can 
never be happy if we see our fellow creature miserable, or in distress. 
They who pity not the sufferings of others, are void of all humanity, 
and where there is no humanity, there is little virtue, and where there 
is no virtue, there is no real happiness, for it requires all these quali- 
fications, to complete a person's happiness. He that wants to be the 
most happy, must live a life of virtue, before he can enjoy the tranquil- 
ity of peace. The wicked may sometimes smile, and appear to the 
world that they have nothing troubling them, and that they are quite 
contented and happy. But see them behind the curtain, they are 
miserable enough. Behind the smile of the wicked, there is often a 
bitter tear. Sin of any kind is always followed with remorse of con- 
science — the sinner is never happy, he may appear happy by making 
false smiles, and laughing at every thing that comes across his mind. 
If a person wants to live happy, they must never do anything before 
they consult their own mind; whether the action that they are about to 
do, will be for their good or no, a thing may be for our good, and give 
us pain at first, and afterwards will turn out not only for our good, but 
for our happiness also When we have a tooth extracted, it gives us 
great pain, and we don't feel happy at the time but we shall feel happy 
afterwards. And a thing may give us pleasure at the moment, but it 
may sting us like a serpent afterwards, and may be our ruin and mis- 
ery. 

But before we can be happy, we must have all the necessaries of life, for 
no person can be happy, if they have not the comforts of life. And 
the fear of want, is what keeps the whole human family miserable, all 
are afraid that they shall come to poverty, let them have ever so 
much, they are affraid to loose one dollar. They who want to live 
happy in this world, they must follow the laws of nature and God, for 
whoever infringes on one of these laws, shall be punished. A person 
may trample the laws of man under his feet and laugh them to scorn. 
But they cannot do so with natures laws, if they put their hand in the 
fire they are sure to be burned. Don't let the cares and troubles of 
this world vex you too much, for it does no good to ponder over 



what you have lost, the more a person thinks upon these things, it 
makes them more miserable. If you are poor, don't envy the rich, 
for if you were in their place, and exalted to their high office, that 
some of these persons hold, you would look back when you used to 
live in the cottage, where you spent many a happy and pleasant hour 
you had little of this world's and you had as little to care for. For 
riches and honours bring cares along with them. If a person is not 
born with a happy contented disposition, there is nothing that will 
make him happy and if a person does not try to make themselves happy 
no other can. All I can say on the subject is to try and be happy, for its 
quite a delight to talk to persons of this discription, it makes a person 
feel good in listening to what they have to say, yes, and they seem to 
cast a light on every subject they speak upon. 

Solomon tells us that he sought happiness eveiy where he thought to 
find it, and after he had acquired all these things he said that they were 
all vanity, and vexation of spirit. He had to return to the fountain 
from whence he had departed. And that was the paths of virtue, and 
they that wander from her paths, will never find happiness in this 
world. Fear God and keep his commandments, and this is the right 
road that leads to all, true happiness. 

ON CONSCIENCE. 

Conscience is an inate principle in man. I am now writing upon a 
subject, that there will be many objections against what I may advance 
For it is a subject that every person knows something about. I 
shall not advance anything new, neither shall I dive deep into the 
subject, as the general run of readers don't care much about deep 
matters, and neither do I myself. I will therefore write a few loose 
observations. 

The Conscience is that principle in man which teaches him good 
from evil, and it is the fountain from whence virtue and vice does 
flow, and it is this that distinguishes man from the brute creation, for 
they have no principle of conscience, and it is given him, to judge 
him here and hereafter also. When God made man, he give him a 
principle which was to teach him good from evil, but he violated that 
principle and though it condemned him at the time, yet it was no longer 
a sufficient guide. Had Adam not fallen, this principle would have 
been sufficient to have ruled and guided him, but as he has sinned; it 
is no longer able to guide him, without the help of some other power. 
But the question might be asked, would this conscience condemn us 
if we were living as savages without any regular laws? To this I an- 
swer, no. This conscience would have no more effect upon our minds 
than if we had no such principle. And it will only condemn us in 
whatever Jdegree of civilization we are living in, and in proportion to 
our knowledge of good and evil. Volney the great French writer says 
that man was found in the woods and he knew little more than the 
trees that surrrounded him. But where he got his information I can- 
not tell, except he had a revelation from heaven himself. 



There many things that man does not know, with regard to the past 
and he never shall know, And there never was a time since the crea- 
tion of man that they did not live together in societies and tribes and 
wherever those societies were formed, they made laws to govern 
themselves, according to the best of their knowledge and clearness of 
views. And men would not live together in peace, and safety, unless 
they had some laws, to rule and govern them. And their morals and 
religion was according to those laws, that they had made; and the laws 
that they had formed were according to the circumstances in which 
they lived. 

If man had never been taught to read and write, he would have 
invented some other thing. And his wants compelled him to invent 
those things that he required. But if he had not been endowed with 
those faculties, he never could have invented anything. If the horse 
wanted a stable to live in, he never could make one, he might make a 
bed under a tree, and that is all he could do. And if man had not a 
principle of justice in him by nature, he never would have made laws 
to be governed by. And there never was a time that laws did not 
exist, in some shape or form, and this principle conscience, has been 
admonishing man in all ages, though there have been few who have 
obeyed its call. God speaks to the conscience of men, and the con- 
science speaks to the heart, and the heart exemplifies it in their life- 
But I don't mean to say that the same idea of good and evil has 
been in all ages, or the same views of morals, neither does the same 
views, of morals exist at the present day. The Mahometan's views 
of morals are not the same as the christian's. If a Mahometant was to 
violate one of the laws of the Koran, his conscience would condemn 
him, as a christian's would that violated the Bible. 

The conscience of a Hindoo, or his views of morals are not the 
same as a christians, If he was to violate one of those laws, of the 
Vedas, which is the same as our Bible, his conscience would condemn 
him. Neither is the Indian's morals like those of a christian's. And 
if he was to violate the laws of the Bible or scalp a christian, he would 
think he was doing right, But let him break one of the Indian laws, 
and the thought of the great Spirit that he worships, would chase him 
in his dreams at night. « 

All have a conscience, but all have not the same views of religion 
and morals. And their humanity is just in proportion to their religious 
views. The nations that are the most enlightened in science and re- 
ligion, are the most humane, and have the tenderest conscience. And 
the christian religion has paved the way for all kinds of science, and 
the image of God is stamped upon the mind of every human being on 
the face of the earth. 

The laws of every country are formed according to their religious 
views, and if their religion be humane, their laws will be humane also, 
and if their religion be cruel their laws will be the same. 

A Mahometan is taught from his youth to hate a christian, and if he 
was to kill one, he would think that he was doing the will of God, and 
if the christian religion taught its disciples to kill all those who did no 



10 

believe in their Bible, their conscience never would condemn them. 
But they are taught to love all men. of whatever nation they may be, 
and this universal doctrine gives them a tender heart. And even 
among those heathens, there are men to be found of very tender and 
feeling hearts, and I believe that it is the different languages that 
makes that cold indifference between the nations of the earth, as they 
dont't know what each other say. And there is a principle of love in 
man, which links them all together. If two individuals live together 
for a length of time they form an attachment for each other, and if 
they were to injure each other their conscience would condemn them 
at the time, but it would not last long. 

The law of conscience is a universal law, and reigns in the mind of 
every man, but it is not sufficient to guide him in the paths of virtue- 
and truth alone, and this proves the necessity of a revelation, and 
however bright and intelligent man's faculties may be, yet they are 
not sufficient to guide him alone. If man had no other law to punish 
him than his conscience, it would soon become smeared with vice, 
and he would have no conscience at all. There have been so many 
murders that never were found out, if those persons had given them- 
selves up to the law of the land, and told that it was them, that had 
done the deed, and they might hang them, for their conscience troubled 
them so much, that they could not live. This would have been a 
strong proof in favour of conscience, but life is sweeter than the sting 
of conscience. There are some persons who have a tender and feel- 
ing heart by nature, if they injure any person, their conscience will 
condemn them at the time, but let the person be removed out of their 
sight, they will very soon forge c all about it. Hence it is a common 
saying that such a person has no conscience, and 1 believe that a great 
many persons have very little conscience. Even among the christians 
of the present day how many acts of fraud are committed and if their 
conscience should condemn them, how soon do they reason themselves 
out of it. If it be a poor person they have wronged, they will say to 
themselves, that he did not know how to take care of it, he might have 
drunk it or spent it foolishly, and if it be a rich person the language 
will be that he was able enough to loose it. Were it not for fear of 
the law and a future punishment, there would be very little conscience 
in the world, and the conscience of a horse jocky is very different 
from that of a clergyman's. 

I have been writing about a natural conscience I will now speak uponi 
the spiritual conscience. No person can form any idea of the change 
which takes place upon the human heart, when it is converted from 
nature to grace, but those who have felt its powerful influence, they 
see different, they think and act different also. Things that they used 
to think right, their conscience now condemns them for the very same 
things that they once loved. 'Tis not the fear of hell, or the laws of 
man that keeps the real child of God from sin ; No, 'tis a principle of 
love within, whose power captivates the human mind and makes them 
love all mankind. Conscience is a faithful monitor if men, would 
listen to its call, its language is strong, its arguments are powerful, and 



11 

it judges without partiality, and condemns with modesty. Ah! how 
different is the conscience of a heavenly minded person, from that of a 
worldly minded person, The smallest sin will be impressed upon the 
mind of the former, and the deceitfulness of the human heartland 
upon the latter it has little effect, although sin is always attended with 
a remorse of conscience, and brings its punishment with it. As we 
read of Cain, who murdered his brother Able, he cried out to God that 
his punishment was greater than he could bear. But Cain's was an 
enlightened conscience, he had known what it was to walk with God, 
and that spiritual happiness that he once possessed had quite forsaken 
him. Happiness and holiness walk hand in hand, while vice and 
misery do the same, their is no happiness to a guilty conscience, their 
mind is like the troubled ocean, they may seek peace, but no peace 
shall they find. 

ON HUMANITY. 

There are many parts in man, that distinguishes him frorc. all other 
parts of God's creation ; and one of these parts is humanity. Hu- 
manity and virtue go together, a virtuous person is always a humane 
person, 'tis their nature to be so, they would not hurt anything, they 
would almost be afraid to kill a fly, or injure the smallest insect. 
Their feelings are so refined and tender, that the least cruelty will 
affect them. Their humanity is not confined to man alone, but even 
to all the brute creation. While on the other hand, their are some 
whose humanity extends no farther than their own family. Such in- 
dividuals may have a little kindness for their fellow man, when a case 
of extreme suffering is presented to their view, their feelings will be- 
come excited at the moment ; but it does not last long, such persons 
have very little feeling for the brute creation. If they should hear of 
any crime committed, they will only pity the injured party, but the 
offender they have no pity for them whatever ; Their language will 
be, hang them, the wretches, its too good for them, if I had my will, 
I would give it to them, But real virtuous humanity, pities both sides 
and they are sorry when they hear anything, of the kind occur, they 
pity the person, who has fallen into such a state @f mind, as to deprive 
his fellow man, of his life. They put themselves in the persons place 
who has committed the deed, and they reason in their own mind, and 
ask themselves the question, if I was in that persons place, how 
should I like to be treated? This is the mode of reasoning by a real 
humane person. If they hear any person in distress they are sure to 
help them ; if they suffer themselves afterwards, they never think of 
themselves, they think more about the suffering of others, they are ever 
kind and obliging to all who may stand in need of their assistance, and 
will even injure themselves to perfect the happiness of others, And they 
often get very little thanks. But if thanks was the reward that they 
looked for their humanity would cease ; they want no reward, 'tis 
pure love and good feeling that prompts them to those acts of benevo- 
lence. They are always thinking and planing, what good they can 



12 

do, their views aie extended all over the face of the earth, their desire 
is to gather all into one family and make them happy. Their human- 
ity is not of that sickly nature, who only stand and pity. The real 
humane braves all dangers, and will even risk their own lives to re- 
lease the sufferings of others. A real humane person will study the 
feelings of others he will not say anything, that he thinks will mar the 
peace and happiness of his fellow man, they never speak evil of no one 
they will rather try and hide their faults, they are kind and generous, 
and take great delight in relieving the wants of others. They are op- 
posed to all'kinds of capital"punishment, they always use persuasion, 
they feel sorry when any person has done wrong, and it hurts them 
very much if they have to punish the individual, they will rather let 
them off. They are much opposed to wars, to horse racing and all 
those cruel kinds of amusements. They are sorry when they hear of 
shipwrecks or any explosion, especially if there have been any lives 
lost. 

Men are more humane now, than they were two hundred years 
ago. But this is entirely owing to education, and the christian reli- 
ligion. It banishes from the mind these cruel and vicious views, 
which lurks around the human heart. It has enlightened the minds 
of men, that they have moderated the laws and made them more mild 
and humane. A few years ago, they thought nothing of taking a 
man's life for stealing a few dollars. And it was a great act of humanity 
when they passed that law, that no person should be put to death ex- 
cept for murder. 'Tis true that there must be some mode of punish- 
ment for the purpose of restraining vice. But let those modes of pun- 
ishment be humane, and not cruel, we should rather sympathise with 
the unfortunate wretch who falls a victim to vice, and I am persuaded in 
my own mind, that cruelty and harsh treatment, will never reform any 
person, but rather have the contrary effect, it will harden them in 
their crimes, it sours their temper, and makes them quite regardless 
that they dont care what they do, and there is no country where pris- 
oners are better treated than christians countries. The savage nations 
are very cruel to their prisoners, and there is little humanity among 
them. They not only punish but they also torture them to a great 
extent, and this is entirely for the want of education. When we look 
to those public buildings which have been erected, where the poor 
and destitute are clothed and feed and the sick are attended to also. 
These places have all been erected by our holy religion. 

In the heathen countries there is very little regard paid to the poor, 
or the destitue sick; their humanity is not like that in christian nations, 
whose hearts are open to every cry of want and distress. And this 
is what our religion teaches us, to be kind to the poor, to be humane 
to all men, and not only to men, but to animals also. We are not to 
be cruel to those animals that God has given us for our use, we are to 
be kind to them, and use them well, and he that is cruel to animals 
will be cruel to his fellow man also. The hors^ is the most useful 
creature to man, and how is he abused, he is drove beyond his speed, 
and beaten unmercifully, and sometimes half starved. This is a great 



13 

sin in the sight of God, to be cruel to those animals or any animal, 
but this is owing to the mind not being well cultivated. 

There have been some great men who have been very cruel and in- 
human, such as Nero the emperor of Rome, Elizabeth Queen of Eng- 
land, her cruelty to Mary Queen of Scotts, I allude to. And no nation 
has ever prospered, that was cruel or inhuman, to any of the creatures 
of God's creation. No, the curse of God attends every such country, 
and not only a country but also individuals. The cruel and wicked 
may prosper for awhile, and flourish like a green bay tree, but a storm 
will come and destroy the fruit. And the blessing of God attends those 
countries that are humane. There is some thing in our nature which 
calls forth feelings of sympathy and affection especially for our fellow 
man, when we see him in distress. 

Washington the father of his country, was noted for his virtue and 
humanity, every person loved him, even his enemies, though he was a 
man who had great power, yet he seldom punished, and had he been 
a tyrant fighting for glory and renown, he would hare shed more 
blood. But no, he was too humane, he felt sympathy for his fellow 
man, and he not only filled his office as a soldier, but also as a chris- 
tian soldier, with a modesty and virtue, which adorned his life, which 
shall shine in the pages of history, in ages yet to come. Mr. Howard 
also, his humanity and benevolence, was of that heavenly kind; he 
went every where doing good, relieving the wants of the distressed, 
he visited the goals, the work houses, and in fact, he was almost like 
a second saviour, for he " went about doing good." I would mention 
as many more if it were necessary. 

Let the young learn to be humane, loving and kind to all, not only 
to man, but to beasts also. If they learn this principle when they are 
young they will never forget it, and there is nothing looks so well, in 
any young person as humanity, virtue and modesty ; these three in 
general go together. Its not enough that you sit in your house till 
some case is presented to you, no, the real humane person is ever on 
the look out for doing good, and they feel a pleasure in so doing, the 
poor and needy are ever the objects of their desire, and they look not 
to man, for a reward, but to God, whc is sure to give them one. 

ON ANGER. 

Anger is a passion of the human mind excited by some cause, and 
it seems to [be one of the strongest passions in human nature, and is 
the most ungovernable. 

There are very few persons who can say they never were augry, 
and there are some people who are very easily made angry, and gives 
way to their temper, for the least thing. Anger may be classed into 
two different kinds, Virtuous and Vicious. "We are told in the 
scriptures to be angry and sin not." If we are told in the scriptures 
to be angry it must be right. But we are commanded not to sin when 
we are angry, If we see any person doing that which is not right, or 
hear them abuse the name of the Creator, we should be angry, and 



14 

rebuke ihem for so doing, and if we are virtuous persons we shall be 
angry when ever we see any person doing that which is not right, 
this may be called virtuous anger. And though this principle be in 
man and beast, and at certain times uncountrolable, yet with a little 
<;are and attention the. most angry and worst tempered person can be 
made calm and mild. And there is nothing looks so bad as to see a 
man or woman in a fit of anger, they look as if they were insane, and 
1 believe that they are insane, for they don't know what they are do- 
ing or saying, and they are sorry and vexed at themselves after their 
passion is over. Many a man has murdered another while he was in 
a passion and was sorry for it afterwards. Some persons who have 
•servants, if they should do anything that displeases them, they 
will get into a passion, and will be so angry, that they cannot govern 
their temper at all, and they will beat their servants without any com- 
passion whatever, and some men when they get angry, they will beat 
their horses so unmerciful that they almost kill the poor animals. 
One would think that a person would not abuse their own property, 
'but some persons when they get angry don't care what they do. No 
person ever makes much by abusing their servants, for the servants 
will take every aduantage behind their master's back, If a servant 
does anything that is wrong, their masters should speak to them in a 
quiet and kind manner, and not fly into a passion, for that makes their 
servants stupid, and it does no good to either master or servant to get 
angry. Masters ought to be kind to their servants and that will make 
their servants love them. A kind and loving disposition never looses 
its reward, and if people get into the habit of getting angry at every 
little thing that comes in their way, they become so disagreeable that 
they are not fit company for any society whatever, they are 
quarreling and fighting with every one that comes in their way, and 
some men when they get angry, they will use every low and vulgar 
language, they will foam at the mouth, and scratch their head, their 
countenance is flushed and the features portray a heart breathing 
wrath. 

Some men when they are debating upon a subject they will get 
angry and call each other stupid fools, now this is wrong although the 
person who gets angry may be in the right, yet that don't prove any- 
thing though he gets out of temper, about the matter, no it gives his 
opponent the advantage over him. 

Mothers ought to curb this disposition in their children when they 
are young. We are told to watch the bent of their inclination. But 
some will say they cannot help their temper, and they are sorry after 
they have been in a passion, and they feel that it hurts them. Now if 
they would only consider the injury it does them, they would not be 
so easy put out of temper. Some men when they are doing a piece 
ot work, if every thing don't go right, they will get into a passion and 
go away and leave the job, swearing, and go and begin to drink. And 
every person should try and avoid getting angry, and flying into a pas- 
sion, for there is nothing so disagreeble, as to live beside people of this 
disposition* And the same bad disposition is in all animals, and is to 



15 

be observed more particularly in the horse. There are some horses 
that will kick and bite, and never can be tamed, while others are as 
tame as a dog, and as gentle as a lamb. And it is the same in human 
nature, their are persons, who have got very bad tempers, revengeful 
dispositions, they are gloomy and look sourly all the time, and no< 
person can do anything to please them- While on the other hand,, 
there are some who have got a kind and loving disposition, and a 
sweet temper, and they are not easily made angry, and if they should 
get angry, they will speak their mind at once and be done with it, 
neither do they keep any hatred, nor revenge if they have got any 
thing against any person, they will tell it to them right off, and this is 
ihe best way, if a person has got anything upon their minds they 
should reveal it at once. There are others who wiU'not say much, 
but will think a great deal, and will keep a hatred and revenge against 
the person who may hare offended them, and it works upon their 
mind, till they have an opportunity of expressing their wrath. This 
is the worst of all anger, and a great sin, in the eyes of God, for we- 
are expressly commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves, and es- 
pecially those who hate us and have done us wrong. We are not to 
do evil, that good may come, but good for evil, and good shall come. 
I know it is easier to write upon the subject, than it is to practice it, 
for I have seen very few who have set that example to the world of 
never geting angry. 

Friends will sometimes fall out about property and will not speak 
to each other for years, each one thinks that they are right, and neith- 
er of them will give in, and thus they live apart with something upon 
their minds they cannot tell what. And there are some persons 
whose temper is so bad and so cruel in their disposition, that they 
cannot live at peace with any person. Those kind of people make 
badhus bands and bad wives, and persons of this temper, should never 
have any power or any authority for they will abuse it to the grief of 
their fellow man. There is nothing under heaven looks so lovely as 
a mild and pleasant countenance that calm and heavenly disposition 
which breaths love and kindness to all men. Who never murmers at 
the will of heaven they are always contented, cheerful and happy ,. 
with a heavenly smile upon their countenance, and how wisely every 
thing is arranged by the Creator, not only in the formation of our 
bodies but even our dispositions. If all men had a bad temper, there 
would be no living on the face of the earth, and history gives a good 
example of this. Those kings who reigned as tyrants their delight 
was in the sheding of man's blood and trampling every thing under 
their feet that'displeased them. And their is nothing that mars the peace 
and happiness of families, so much as a bad temper, a sullen counte- 
nance, casts a dampness over the minds of those who are of a cheer- 
ful disposition. And this bad temper prevents many from rising in« 
the world, they are always grumbling and freting about something. 

And their is nothing makes so many old maids as a bad temper, and 
a haughty disposition, money and looks have a great sway in this res- 
pect ; but a pleasant countenance and a sweet temper are more en- 



16 

chanting than all the glittering gold. He who conquers his own 
temper, and regulates his disposition has achieved a greater conquest, 
than he who has conquered many armies. 

My advice is never to get angry or out of temper for it does no good 
but injuires the person who gets angry for they may say and do 
many a thing at the moment, that will make them sorry for it after- 
wards. If you wish to be happy in this world be content, never be 
angry, nor murmur at the will of heaven for ail things are for the good 
of the creature. And there is nothing ruined more souls and blasted 
their hopes of heaven than a wicked bad temper, for if they cannot 
live at peace with their brother in this world, they will not live with 
him in the world to come. "If you be angry sin not." 



ON AFFLICTION. 

There are none so able to write upon this subject, and discribe the 
feelings of the sufferer as those who have passed through its fire. But 
there are few, very few of the human family but what have their af- 
flictions, but some have more than othersfand it would almost appear 
that some people are born to affliction and adversity. And one would 
almost think that there was a certain fate attending their destiny. 
They may be temperate, religious and frugal, they are' not slothful in 
business, they work night and day. It does not matter what they 
take in hand to do, they are frustrated in all their attempts. They 
will commence some business and they will get along very well for a 
while, they will say to themselves I have tried to get along, and never 
could until this time. And when they are not thinking about any- 
thing, something will come that they never dreamed of, and that they 
have no control over, and will blast all their expectations. 

There are others who prosper, and every thing flourishes, that they 
put their hands to. And these people are neither temperate, religious 
or frugal, yet prosperity flows upon them . I shall illustrate this by 
the case of two individuals. 

A. B. was brought up in a country village, his parents were sober 
and industrious people, they were very well to do in the world. A. 
B. was the third son, and had received a good education, better than 
all the other children ; he was of a quiet and mild disposition, loving 
in all his ways. He learned a trade, and his master was uncommonly 
fond of him, he was a faithful boy, and served his time to the satisfac- 
tion of all. He joined the church, and was temperate and virtuous in 
his conduct, and every person loved him. He commenced business 
for himself and prospered, in fact he could not help prospering he was 
so steady. He had got in a large stock of goods, he was engaged to 

a Miss. L , and he went into the country to collect some money, 

returning in a few days he was astonished to find his establishment 
consumed by fire, together with all his goods, Thus in one night he 
was rendered a poor man, his marriage was posponed until he had set- 
tled in business again. He was fearful that his creditors would press 
him, consequently he moved into another city, and worked there for 



17 

some time, by economy and industry, he had saved enough money to 
start in business again. He got along for awhile, and was about to 
settle down for life, when all at once, he received a letter, informing 
him of his intended bride's death. 

Time passed away, and he became acquainted with a Miss, M , a 

respectable tradesman^ daughter, whom he married. They lived veiy 
happy together, and he done a flourishing business; his family increas- 
ed — he failed in business and his creditors put him in jail. His wife 
took it to heart, which brought on disease that soon carried her to the 
grave. In fact, Mr. B. was no sooner up in the world doing well, 
as he supposed, than something came and knocked him down, and 
from the day that he first started in business he was in adversity and 
affliction, and yet he was an industrious hard-working man, but there 
seemed to be a fate attending him which hindered his success in 
business. 

Mr. K. was a very wild youth, but he had a great love for money. 
He never liked hard work — lie traded, and would treat any person that 
he could make a dollar from — he prospered in business, and married a 
woman pretty much like himself in disposition, and they soon accu- 
mulated a fortune. In fact there seemes to be a fate attending roan in 
this world. 

And Oh ! how it wrecks the constitution of man, it bows his soul 
down to the grave. There are few who can bear its mighty load, and 
meet it with calmness and composure of mind. It is often sent for 
man's good f to show him the uncertainty of all human affairs, Man 
should never set his affections upon the things of this world, for he is 
sure to be disappointed* Some minds are more capable of bearing 
afflction than others, they are always cheerful and happy, it does not 
matter what befalls them. But these kind of people live without 
thought, and if vexed about anything, it is only for the moment. Some 
think that God is angry with them, and is punishing them for their 
past sins, but it is a blessing to man, and riches are often a curse, 
and ruins many a poor soul. Some people when, affliction comes up- 
on them they will take to drinking to drown sorrow. But drinking 
only drives away sorrow while it lasts, and when it dies away, they 
feel worse than if they never had tasted it, and they keep drinking 
until they become complete sots. But this is a bad way to get over 
affliction, for if they once give way to drinking it ruins them forever. 
Ah ! how many a kind and affectionate person has been ruined and 
brought to beggary by affliction. It came upon them and they were. 
unable to bear it. O ! son of affliction what is thy grief.' Is it the loss 
of thy dear children, or a loving wife, or some of thy friends ! Or is 
it the cares of the world that grieves thee! Hast thou lost all thy prop- 
erty , and art thou made a beggar. Ah ! 'tis a heavy load thou hast to 
bear. Oh ! what a pity, to see poor man, how he struggles and no 
help for him. That countenance where joy once beamed, is now fur- 
rowed with care and sorrow. But though affliction last for a night, 
yet joy cometh in the morning, and though clouds of darkness should 
©over thy mind! with dispair, yet let not thy heart be too much cast 



18 

down, for it is all for thy good. Though it seem for thy destruction 
at the present time, never let they heart be discouraged and you shall 
be able to conquer all things if you put your trust in God. When a 
man is in affliction he wants a kind friend, but this is the time that all 
his earthly friends and companions forsake hiin. To whom then 
shall he fly but his God, who is ever a friend to the weary and heavy 
laden. And God who hears the cry of the broken hearted, and who 
wipeth away the tears from the eyes of the mourner, and raiseth up 
ihe down cast spirits* It is good for man to have his mind prepared 
to meet all these troubles and cares of this life with fortitude. Now 
there are many changes in a man's life, as business is all a lottery. 
Sometimes men will be doing a good business, and it will take a 
change, and a man should not loose heart because things don't prosper 
with him all the time. Some men who have been doing large busi- 
nesses; if their buisiness should slack off, they get discouraged, and 
loose all life and spirits, which are the most essential qualifications for 
carrying on any kind of business whatever. And it is men of the 
strongest minds and most sensative feelings that gives way to affliction. 
If men who have been in business, especially those who have failed 
four or five times, and had other afflictions to pass through, if they 
would only write their lives, it would be of great benefit to the world. 
But few of these kind of men write their lives, and it is a pity. The 
most of those who write their lives, are those who have been brought 
up in a nursery, and their lives are not worth a man's while to put of 
his time in reading them. There have been many a man who has 
died in obscurity, if their lives were written, would prove very instruc- 
tive ; more so than many that have been written. But as I have said 
before, there is a fate attending the destiny of man. that no human 
power can control, and not only man but nations also. Whatever 
God has decreed will come to pass, though all the powers of men and 
devils be against the decrees of heaven it will not avail. And my ad- 
vice to every man is to have a clear conscience, and to make his peace 
with God. Above 5-11 things in this world let man have the fear of 
God in his mind at all times, and this will keep him from committing 
many sins. Let adversity and affliction come, and although you may- 
be brought to poverty, yet He that feedeth the birds of the air, who 
watereth the grass and maketh it to grow, think ye, he will not feed 
you, son of adversity. . Never give way to despair, but let hope be 
your star, and it will brighten and light your path in the most dark 
hour. 



ON FEAR. 

Fear is an innate principle in man and beast, and it teaches them 
both to shun danger, and any thing that will hurt them. It teaches 
them to love company, and company makes them cheerful and happy 
and drives away all fear. The birds of the air ilock together, and at 
night they retire to their rest. The fish in the sea, ihey meet in 
droves, and the beast of the forest do the same. Every one after its 
kind, and every one of these creatures have some place to go to at night 
Yes, night calls all to their homes to seek rest and repose. 

There is a fear comes over the mind at night, that does not come 
over it through the day, every thing is quiet and still, and the contrast 
between light and darkness dazzles the mind. This is greatly owing 
to habit, although it is not habit altogether, for this is a principle in 
man, that he does not like to walk by himself at night, even in the 
streets after hours, because there are so many loose characters walking 
about at night. 

And there are few persons who will walk in a church yard at night, 
they are afraid of the dead, they think that ghosts are walking up and 
down the church yard, and the white tomb. stones, look like ghosts 
themselves. And not only in a church yard, but people are timid to 
sit in a room where a dead person is, or live in a house that has the 
name of being haunted, or on the banks of a river, or in a wood or an 
old Abbey or castle, these are the places where few persons like to 
walk. 

But some will say that this fear arises from telling children ghost 
stories when they are young. But little children are frightened to 
go out the door at night, even those who have tfeen brought up in a 
-city, who never heard a ghost story in their life, they are even more 
freightened than those who are brought up in the country. And tho' 
a child never heard a ghost story, yet he would be timid at night, for 
night brings fear as it brings a desire for rest. And as it regards the 
churchyard, there is a solemnity that comes over the mind of man, 
even the most thoughtless, when they enter a grave yard, and see all 
around them the dead sleeping beneath their feet, that once was lively 
as they, there is awe strikes the mind with fear. In walking through 
an Abbey, and look to the mouldering walls that hath stood for ages, 
the place where the alter stood, where man was taught the paths of 
virtue. Ah ! this is the place where many of my fellow creatues met 
Sabbath after Sabbath and worshiped their Creator, But the wood 
bine bower had grown around, and the birds make their nests in its 
ruins. Or to walk amongst the ruins of an old castle, where the sound 
of drums and guns were heard, and the multitude that used to meet 
within its walls, the gate where the sentinel stood, is now thrown 



20 

down, and the multitude of beins that once lived within those walls are 
all dead, or in the battle slain. 

And some persons are more subject to fear than others, and especi- 
ally those who are of a nervous temper, clergymen and men who 
study a great deal, are very timid to walk in the dark. Now one 
would think that these men would not be afraid to go out at night, but 
their feelings are so refined, that the least out of its place would hurt 
them. Habit and the circumstances in which a man is placed has a 
great effect upon the human mind. If you take a young man, let him 
be ever so great a coward, and make a soldier of him, he will be timid 
at first, but let him be in the army five or six years, and all that will 
wear off him, his mind is changed and those effeminate feelings which 
he once possessed have become masculine, from the harsh treatment 
that he has received. The Pirate who lives by plunder and murder, 
he fears nothing, neither by night or day, because his feelings of hu- 
manity are destroyed, by the wicked life that he leads, he may feel 
timid at times, but he thinks so little that it has no effect upon him 
whatever, And it is the same with all those who live this wicked 
and barbarous life. If ever a good thought comes into their mind they 
will destroy it by some other means. 

Ah ! this fear keeps man in subjection, and we are told that " the 
fear of God is the begining of wisdom," It is the fear of the gallows 
that keeps many a person from committing murder, and were it not 
for the fear of the law and those places of punishment, there would be 
nothing but bloodshed. The strong would overcome the weak, and 
the cunning the simple. Fear protects virtue and keeps her from be- 
ing trampled under the feet of men. 

Men who are insane, love to roam among old buildings in the woods 
and on the banks of rivers, and in all those wild and solitary places, 
and they love to walk by themselves with their eyes fixed to the 
heavens. And when night comes and all the world gone to rest, this is 
the time that those persons like to walk and talk to themselves. 

Now if a person in their right mind should be walking in the coun- 
try at night the least thing will frighten them, and they think that some 
person is behind them, the trees shake with the wind, and the leaves 
rustling by the side of the way, it makes a person start and they be- 
come timid. Many a person has dressed themselves up in disguise, 
and goes at night to frighten people, but this is very wrong many a 
person has become insane in this way, and females especially. Some 
laugh and make sport of it, but no person should laugh and make sport 
of what will perhaps be the ruin ofthetr fellow ereature for life. 
Young persons should avoid this, and they ought not to be encouraged 
in it, but checked whenever they make the least attempt to do so, 

And this principle fear, which God has planted in man. is for some 
good purpose. There is not a desire in our mind but what should 
teach us something, for the desires of the mind are something like the 
h>e senses, They have their contraries, and as darkness is opposite 
to light, so fear is opposite to bravery. If their were no cowards, all 
would be brave and as there are degrees in bravery, so there are de- 



2i 

grees in fear. Some horses are very easy frightened and will slart at 
the least thing, and run off', and especially when they hear guns, or 
drums, and all animals are more easily frightened than man. even the 
lion m the forest, will sometimes run from man. 

I never like to walk out at night, a person don't know what may be- 
fall them, there have been so many murders committed, and night is 
ihe time that men do commit such deeds. And when we examine the 
mechanism of our frame, and see the beauty and order in all things 
connected with our body, we are astonished at the harmony every part 
and so complete in all its movements in so complicated a machine. 
There are few who study their own thoughts and desires, many com- 
plain that they have no time to study. They may perhaps have little 
time to sit down and read every book, and some books are not worth 
the reading, but all have time to think, it does not matter what a per- 
son is working at, he can plan with his mind, and if a person could 
get into a system of regulating their thoughts, they might acquire a 
great deal of useful knowlodge. And as it regards people being 
freightened at ghosts and all these kind of thins, I don't believe in any 
such thing. 1 have seen people who have seen them, but have 
never seen any myself, and I will not believe till I see some. But I 
don't say there are no such things to be seen in the air, for tbere may 
be many things that I don't know, I am now writing about what I do 
know. There is one thing that I am timid at night, and I am not 
through the day, and I believe its more owing to habit than any other 
thing. When we see any thing that scares us, we should not run 
from it, but go and see what it is, and make ourselves sure, when- 
ever any person sees any thing in the dark, they are freightened, and 
will run away, and tell people that they saw something, but what it 
was they could not tell, and they go away with that impression upon 
their minds that it was something bad. 



ON MEMORY. * 

The memory is that organ which recollects whatever it has seen or 
heard, the time, place, and every thing that happened within our ob- 
servation. This is an innate principle in man and beast, if it may be 
called by that term. All animals have a memory and some animals 
can be taught a great many things, such as the horse and the dog, and 
some of the feathered tribe, can be taught to speak, such as the Parrot. 
When a bird builds its nest, in the middle of the forest, environed oc- 
trees. Yet those birds can go out of that forest and gather food for 
hours, and return again to their nests without any difficulty. The 
animals who live in the earth, and build their nests in holes under the 
ground, if they had not a good memory, they could never find their 
way back to their nests. And if there was a dozen of nests, and hun- 
dreds of young ones together, yet each one could tell its own nest and 
its own young. I once had a sow with eight pigs, and I bought anothor 
pig from a countryman. The pig that I bought was the same size, 



22 

the same colour, and the same shape, in fact no person could have told 
them a part. I put it into the pen amongst the other pigs, never think- 
ing for a moment they would harm it, but every one bit at it, and the 
next morning I found the pig dead. They never offered to eat it 
Now a person would have thought, that they could not have told the 
difference, but animals know more than a person would imngine. 
The bear who lives in Greenland will travel for miles over mouutains 
of snow, in the darkest season of the year and find its way back to its 
den. And there are birds of flight who will travel from one country 
to another at certain seasons of the year, if they had no memory they 
could not do so. By chance, no, they have a memory, and an instinc- 
tive principle which teaches them to do so. But animals are governed 
more by instinct than by their memory, for their memory seemsdifferent 
from man's. And there is something to be observed in animals, that 
they don't recognize their young after they have gone away from them 
or when they grow up . 

A woman's love and affection for her children is never forgotten. 
Her son may go into distant lands, and she will still remember him, 
her husband may die and she can get another, and forget her first. 
But not so with her child, although the first child dies and she has 
many more, yet she can never forget her fiist born, and her memory 
will recall the sweet smiles, that beamed in its innocent countenance. 
And if she has any of its clothes left that it used to wear, she will take 
them up, and say, Ah ! this is my first childs, I remember well the 
time he wore it. It was that summer that the fruit was so plenty, and 
many of my friends came to see me, and they were all so much taken 
up with him, he was so playful. And I remember who made this 
very cap, ah ! 'twas Mrs. M . 

Animals have an affection for their young and their affection is very 
strong. But they have not got that feeling that human beings have, al- 
though they grieve and mourn foi the loss of their young, its only for 
a short time, it does not last long, they soon forget all about it. In a 
human being the education that they receive refines their feelings and 
make them more tender and humane, 

I have known persons who were so deficient in this organ that they 
could not recollect anything that happened after they had done it. If 
they laid anything aside they would forget where they put it. There 
are other persons who can take a book and read it, and in a short time 
they can almost repeat it by memory. Others might labor for years 
and then would not be able to do so. This organ grows as a person 
grows and it decays in the same manner, a child can't remember any 
thing till its able to speak, and that is about three years of age. Al- 
though a child can tell its mother or the person who nurses it, at a 
very early period, yet it is not able to remember letters or the names 
of places, till its about three or four years old. And there is a great 
difference between children in this respect, some will learn a thing 
when they are very young and take it up remarkably quick, while 
others will drone over it for years and make little progress, their un- 
derstanding is so dull and heavy. 



23 

When a person is young they can be learnt almost anything, and if 
they have once learned it they will never forget it entirely, you may 
not remember it so distinctly as you did when you first learnt it. But 
there is a great difference between learning a thing and half learning it. 
A great many think that they are complete scholars if they have been 
so many years at college, and in fact many come out as wise as 
when they went in, or as I should have rather said that they went in 
as wise as they came out. There is a great difference be- 
tween learning a thing by practice and a thing by theory. If a person 
learns to be a blacksmith when he was a boy, he will never forget the 
use of the anvil, although he does not follow that trade. Or if a boy 
learns to be a sailor, he never will forget the names of the different 
yards, the blocks, the sheets, and any trade if a person once learns it, 
he will never forget it. 

But take a boy and learn him a different language from the one he 
has been accustomed to speak, or we shall say, take a boy who speaks 
the English language and learn him the Latin language, if he does not 
practice that Latin language, he will forget the most part of it. You 
will sometimes see, pieces of latin in some works, and if the writer 
had left them out altogether, they would have shown to the world 
that they were plain honest men. While on the other hand they 
wish to convey to the world that they are latin scholars, for they put in 
a piece of latin that no person but themselves can read, in fact there is 
neither sense nor meaning it. It is the same in every thing that you 
learn by theory, if yon don't keep practising that thing yon will very 
soon forget all about it, in fact it will be of very little use to you. If a 
boy was to learn the multiplication when he was six years of age, and 
he never put that into practice he would soon forget the most of it. If 
a doctor did not practice he would forget the latin terms of his medi- 
cines but the practice impresses them upon his memory. The prac- 
tice is the thing that strengthens the memory and improves the mind, 
and becomes a part of their nature. 

There are some persons that it is very hard to impress a thing upon 
their mind, but when once they do learn it, they seldom ever forget it, 
They that learn quick they forget quick also. They that take a long 
time at learning a thing, they are a long time forgeting it. So nature 
is just in all her ways, If a person is diffident in one part they make 
up for it in some other part, and there is a harmony in every part of 
the human mind, and that harmony is to be seen in his system, in his 
walk and conversation. The memory at times may forget, but it is a 
faithful friend. We can remember acts of kindness that have been 
done to us, and we can recollect the person that done them- We can 
remember the kind instructions that we rrceived from our fathers, and 
teachers in our early days, and those lessons seemes to be still upon 
our minds, and we remember the name of the place where we were 
born the church that we used to go to, and some of the texts, that the 
minister use to preach from. And the country in which he was born 
he will ever have a warm affection for it. The hills and all the scen- 
ery of his father land will ever be dear to his memory. The memory 



24 

is a wonderful thing, what a large store of knowledge yon eajl heap 
upon it and yet there is always room for more, and it recalls many a 
sweet word that is long past and gone. Were it not for the memory, 
we could never acquire any knowledge whatever, we would forget our 
daily work and the use of the tools, we would forget what time of the 
year to sow the seed or to plant anything. And if we dont read and 
improve our memory we will know little more than we were born 
with; the memory cant improve itself, we must improve it. Travel- 
ing is an excellent thing for improving the mind and strengthens the 
memory, and it enlarges a persons views upon the subject of general 
things, that can be seen with the eyes. And a person will remember 
the things they see better than when they read it out of abook. When 
a person begins to grow old their memory grows weak, and they for- 
get what they once knew, and they can hardly remembei anything* 
Cares and sorrows impairs the mind very much, 1 have heard of 
persons who have been sick for some time, and after they got better, 
they found their memory impaired very much. And nothing impairs 
the mind so much as intemperance, it may sharpen man's wit and make 
him more bold, but it will never strengthen the powers of his mind. 
No. it will have the contrary effect, and you will very seldom find a 
person who has used much spirituous liquors, have a good memory 
if they bad a good memory when they were young their mode of living 
destroyed it. 'Tis true that some of the Lords and nobles af England 
have been great scholars, but amongst those scholars there have been 
very few natural geniuses, they may thank the colleges for their learn- 
ing and not their mode of living. 

Were it not for the memory we could not recognize one person from 
another. But every countenance that we have seen, the memory can 
detect every feature in the countenance,, and a dog can tell his own 
master, among a thousand. And if you love a person and has their 
likeness drawn whenever you see that picture it will bring you in re- 
membrance of the person. If it be the picture of thy mother, you will 
say, Ah ! how often have I walked by her side, how often have those 
arms embraced me, those lips kissed me, and those hands have sup- 
plied my wants, ah! mother, well do I remember thee, and those 
kind and affectionate words that you often spoke to me. But now 
thou art gone, but I still remember thee, and my prayers to God that 
thou art in heaven amongst the blessed saints. 

And were it not for the memory, we could not think because our 
thoughts are derived from the remembrance of a thing. We have 
first to remember a thing before we can think about it, and as soon as 
a thing escapes from our memory, we can't think any more about it. 
Thus the picture of a mother brings her in your memory, and then 
you think yon ran see her, but take your eyes off that picture and you 
will cease to think, because some other object will come in view. 
And a person may have a good memory and yet have very little judg- 
ment and understanding in things, and you may teach a parrot to 
npeak, but you never can teach it to think, and reason. And it is so 
with a great many persons,, they can speak and there is neither mean- 



ing or sense in what they say, because they can't reason or think for 
themselves, and they could never be taught to think and reason if they 
had not the reasoning faculties. You might as well try to make a boy 
a musician who had no ear for music, as to teach one to think and 
reason on subjects who had no gift by nature so to do. This is a gift 
ihat can neither be bought by gold, or silver, the memory must come 
by nature. Tis true that man is born naked in mind without any ideas 
but then he is born with certain gifts. It matters not how ruined and 
barbarous his condition may be, yet those gifts of nature are to be seen 
in their beauty in this rude state, and the person who has a good mem- 
ory has received an excellent gift. The memory receives whatever 
we see or hear good or bad, and evil seems to be more easy impress- 
ed upon the mind than good, and every idea that we reason upon it 
must first be impressed upon the mind, before we reason upon that 
idea. Thus we have twenty different creeds, in our memory and our 
judgment reject them all, still they are upon our memory and we can't 
get rid of them. If a person reads a tale they may say to themselves 
this is all lies. But can they help it working upon their feelings? No. 
Why? because it is impressed upon the memory. When a person 
grows old, their memory grows weak, and they are not able to re- 
member things near so weil as when they were young. And every 
thing that is created it grows to a certain height, and then it begins to 
decay away, and that which is longest of coming to maturate will be 
the longest of decaying. A boy grows until he is about twenty one, 
he never grows taller after that, and he will grow stronger until he is 
forty. If a man has lived a good virtuous and temperate life when he 
was young, and had little sickness, he will be as strong at forty and 
able to do as hard a days work as when he was twenty. 

At what age the mental faculties are at their maturity, it is not rightly 
known, as their are so much difference in the mental organs of every 
person, but I suppose the general average is about the age of forty. 
After this age a man begins to decline, his members grow weak and 
feeble, his senses grow dull, and those bright intellectual faculties 
cease to shine in their native vigor. 

Dr. Johnson had a very good memory at the age of fifty, he could 
repeat a thing at that age as well as when he was twenty. But John- 
ston was more gifted with a good memory than with the reasoning 
faculties. There is one thing sure, that the older a person gets their 
judgment gets the more sound, and an old person who has received 
any education at all, they are more able to give an advice than a young 
person. When I look to the time when I was a boy at school, I 
think what foolish things I used to do. St, Paul says, when he was 
a child he thought as a child, but when he grew and became a man he 
thought as a man, and he threw away childish things. But experience 
has taught us all this, (there is a volume of meaning in that word ex- 
perience,) but when we were children we knew no better, we done 
what we thought was right, and according to the best of our knowl- 
edge, for our knowledge of things and the world was small, and our 



26 

judgment of men was shallow. But as we advance in years our 
knowledge increases, and our judgment becomes more perfect. And 
our mental faculties are subject to diseases as well as the members of 
our body, or our senses. A man may have eyes and can't see, he 
may have ears aud can't hear, he may have a tongue and can't speak. 
If the eye sight is effected, the organ of thought is effected also, be- 
cause the beauty of viewing things, and painting sceneries in the 
mind is no more, A person may have a mind and yet they can't re- 
member anything that is said to them, because their memory is de- 
ficient, We can tell when anything is the matter with a leg or arm, 
and if we are sick we will send for the doctor. And if any of our 
senses are affected we feel it at once,but if our faculties are affected we 
are at loss, and all the thinking powers of our mind are deranged The 
quacks of the present day have found out a cure for every disease in 
the body. And if you were to look to the newspapers and read the 
different advertisements that those quacks talk about you would think 
that the people were never going to die. And the one half of what 
they say is only lies, the people don't live any longer now a days as 
they used to do two hundred years ago. But it would appear that they 
have not found out a cure for the mind. In any disease of the mind 
the memory is the first thing that is affected, and that is the cause why 
people become insane. Some thing has so worked upon the mind 
that it became impressed on their memory and it preyed upon their 
mind that it drove their thinking powers out of order. And there is 
nothing made more insane persons than disappointed love and religion. 
And those are the two causes that have drove more females insane than 
any other thing. The mind is very tender, and it feels the least In- 
jury. Tis the mind that makes the man, and not the body. We 
must never judge of a person's mind by the appearance of the body, 
A person may be tall and well proportioned, and even good looking, 
and at the sametime have a very poor judgmant, aud little or no nn- 
derstanding whatever, While on the other handyeu will see persons 
who are small in stature and deformed in the body, and very homely 
in countenance. And yet those persons have very bright and brilliant 
intellects, And some of the best writers that the world ever produced 
both men and women, were very homely looking persons. Beauty 
is only skin deep, a person can't help their looks neither can they add 
anything to their stature, they can improve their mind and polish their 
mental faculties, they can adorn their persons by living holy and lovely 
lives in this world. And this ought to be the aim of all learning. But 
it is very different some of those great scholars lived very immoral 
lives. And few female authors made good wives, in fact they are al- 
ways the contrary* 

There has been a great talk amongst those foopish writers about the 
rights of women, and the excellence of her mind. I will dispute the 
qualities of a woman's mind, neither will I deny her of her rights. 
But there is a desire planted in the breast of woman and that is a love 
for children. If you went to make women authoreses and teaches in 



27 

Colleges, you must make them old maids, and I think a very few of 
them would like to be so. But the most of the men who wrote Upon 
this subject, they were not contented with one wife, they wanted two 
or three. And those women who wrote upon the rights of women, 
they were not contented with their own husbands, they used to steal 
other womens. I have deviated from my subject, I hope the reader 
will excuse me, I will leave the rights of women for another subject, 
where I shall have time to treat upon it more minutely. 

ON THOUGHT. 

The mind of man is composed of many parts and each part has its 
own place, and it requires all these parts to complete our understand- 
ing. And it requires all these parts to be in harmony with each other 
to make a sound understanding. The organ of thought is one of the 
most wonderful in the human mind. 

The great power that it posseses in the contemplating a subject that 
is presented to its view. Lighting travells quicker than sound, and 
thought quicker than both, it is so quick that no person can-calculate 
it, and it can shift from one object to another in a moment of time, in 
fact there is nothing so quick as thought. And a person can never 
think upon more than one object at a time, and he can never think long 
upon that object, or subject, as I rather should have said. The 
thoughts shift from one scenery to another. And it has the power of 
painting the most beautiful landscapes, far passing that of real nature. 
The fields in all their winter gloom, and summer in all its beauty, the 
husbandman gathering in the grain, the hills with many flocks upon 
them, and wandering in their summers beauty, these scenes are all 
presen ed to the mind by thonght. It can carry the mind to distant 
lands beyond the sea, and there paint sceneries that it never saw be- 
fore. If a person has been in a certain place and he should leave that 
place, and go to another place, his mind 1 can paint out every thing that 
oceured in that place for years afterwards, just as natural as if his 
body was there, he thinks that he can hear the very words that used 
to be spoken, the gestures of the person who spoke them, and the 
features of the countenance, the time and every thing that happened* 

This power thought can ever recall the mind back to its childhood 
when it was at school it can see the teacher and all the scholars, and 
the lesson that it used to read,»and many things which transpired in 
those early days, they are more fresh upon the mindjthan things that 
happened yesterday. And if you have read a book, and lays it down 
for a few days, takes it up again, every subject comes fresh upon 
your mind and you think that you know all about it and at the same 
time you cant articulate one sound and yet you know it all So aston- 
ishing are the powers of the human mind, that when man looks into 
his own mind he is lost in wonder and amazement. The mind can 
carry its thoughts back to tbe creation of the world, it can see the gar- 
den of Eden, and the creation of tbe first man. You can see him 



28 

walking alone and amusing himself among the flowers of paradise 
contemplating the beauties of creation, and the loveliness of the scene. 
The night comes on and he lies down to sleep beneath a tree, he 
awakes in the morning and looks around him with astonishment, the 
darkness of the night has passed away, no moon, nor stars are to be 
seen the sun has taken their place, and out shines thesir with his bril- 
Hency of light. You can also think upon the creation of woman, you 
can hear God give them the commandments, you can see the tree, the 
apples, the serpent, and every thing as plain as if you had been there 
yourself. If you have ever read of the fallen angels, your thoughts can 
paint what kind of beings they are, and you think what kind of b«mings 
they are, they are cast out of heaven, and they appear in the shape of a 
serpent to tempt Adam. You hear the serpent talking to the woman 
and the flattery he uses, till he gets her to obey him, and then you 
hear each receive their sentence, you think that you can see the first 
pair cast out of paradise, and the gates of their first abode, are shut 
against them, and the garden is turned into a wilderness, and every 
thing grows wild and desolate. 

You have read of Noah and the flood, and your mind pictures to 
you the -Ark that he built, and you can see him and his family and all 
the different kinds of beasts enter into the ark, with him. The rain 
comes and you think that you can hear the very sound of its fall, and 
it rains until the land is entirely covered, and you can see the people 
running to the mountains for shelter, until the waters rise so high that 
they are carried away in the flood. You can also see the raven sent 
forth, and it flies upon the face of the waters, till it finds a place to 
rest and it never returns. The dove is sent forth and returns with an 
olive branch in its mouth. Now you can paint all these things in 
your own mind by the organ of thought and contemplation, and they 
are impressed upon the mind by the memory. So wonderful are the 
powers of the human mind, when once they are called into action, but 
if they are never used, they will be of very little value and w r ould al- 
most appear as he had none of those faculties at all. When you have 
read the history of a country you form in your own mind what kind 
of a country it is, and what kind of people live in that country, and 
your thoughts will be formed according to the discription that the 
writer has given, I never have been in the East Indies 1 and yet I can 
talk about that country, because I have read about it I am told that it 
is very warm and sickly for Europeans, it is a large country, very wild 
and mountainous, and the lion and the tiger runs at large, and I know 
there are two large cities there, and they are beautifully built. The 
names are Calcutta and Bengal. Now I can think upon all those 
places and paint them in my mind. I think I see the river Ganges, 
aud the Indus flowing with that mighty velocity which carries every 
thing along that comes within its sweep. And whatever object ap- 
pears to our view, we are sure to think about it after we are gone, and 
we will form our own ideas of it. We can see the moon with our 
naked eye, and experience has taught us that it gives us light by night 



29 

and discovery has found out that it rules the mighty ocean. But as 
these observations are by the organ of sight, we can form but little 
idea what kind of a thing the moon is, as there never has been any 
person there to write and give us a discription of the country, we can 
say and think very little about it. We are taught to believe that there 
is a heaven hereafter, a place for the good and virtuous, and their em- 
ployment, will be singing songs, playing the harp, and those sweet 
and lovely thoughts make you happy and cheerful. I also read of a 
place called hell, where the wicked go, and I am told that it is a place 
of punishment, and the employment of the people there, is weeping 
and mourning for the sins thev have committed in this world, 

Now as there has never been any person returned from the dead to 
to give us an account of these things, we can say very little upon the 
subject, we can reason from analogy, and we form our thoughts accor 
ding to our mode of reasoning* The few passages in scripture which 
•peaks upon it, gives us so little account of it that we are just as liable 
to form wrong views as we are to form correct ones. And there is not 
a more beautiful idea can enter the mind than that of heaven. We paint 
to ourselves pleasures that we shall enjoy hereafter, and it makes us so 
happy that we forget all the cares of this life. And this idea should 
teach us to banish every thought out of our minds that makes us im- 

ha PP> ' . , , . 

When a child comes into the world he is naked in body and mind, 

he has no ideas whatever, and if a child was to be shut up in. a room 
by himself where it could neither see nor hear anything, it never 
would have any ideas at all, it would neither be able to think nor speak 
any more than a mere animal. For we got our ideas by practice, study 
and observation It is true that we have got all these organs in our 
mind and many different faculties, but if those faculties and organs are 
not called into use they will only lie dormant in the mind. And as 
practice makes perfect in every thing, so it is the same with thought, 
one idea begets another, Its like the mnltiplication table, you can 
create one thought after another when the mind is put in motion. 
We are born with certain principles but we are born without any 
ideas or even sense, all the ideas that we possess we learn them by 
experience and observation. Experience has taught us what is good, 
and what is bad, what is cold and what is hot, and every idea that we 
have, we have learned since we came into the world, But our desires 
we brought them into the world with us, a desire for food is common 
to all, and those natural desires and wants must be supplied, and those 
wants and desires have caused us to invent all those things that we 
now possess. We are always inventing some new thing, and discov- 
ering something that never was discovered before. 

The idea that the earth is in the shape of a ball and revolves round the 
sun. This has been found out by study, and observation. When 
we look to the sea, and behold that vast ocean of waters which cover 
the larger portion of the eartj*, w&, see the ebbing and flowing of the 
tides, and its not so many hundred years since that was found ouL, 



30 

The mind of man is always progressing and will be throughout all 
eternity, his mind is infinite there is no bounds to his thoughts, neith- 
er is his knowledge or understanding limited. When God made man 
he might have made him with a knowledge of all these things if he 
pleased ; but then man's knowledge would have been limited, and he 
could never know any more than what he was born with. And he 
wouldn't have been a responsible being, for he could neither have turned 
his thoughts one way or another, he would have been as wise as the 
Creator himself, and our happiness entirely consists in our acquiring 
knowledge and understanding and serving our Creator. And the 
more we study and search after wisdom aud knowledge, we will al- 
ways be discovering something new until we are lost in wonder and 
amazement at ihe beauty of Gods works. Our mind is ever thinking 
both day and night even in our sleep, when we dream we can see 
everything as plain as if we were awake and saw the things with our 
open eyes. The mind is always in motion, its never at rest. And it 
is a most delightful theme, to study our own thoughts, and not to give 
way to every foolish idea, that comes in our minds for God has^given 
us a principle, that we may be able to judge our thoughts by. Tis 
true that we cant help evil thoughts from coming into our minds let us 
do as we please, but then we are commanded not to give way to these 
evil thoughts. And when we are engaged in acts of virtue, and piety, 
those lustful and carnal desires will come into our minds at the very 
time, And even in the house of God how many idle thoughts come 
into our minds, in the most solemn worship, when we are paying 
homage to the Creator of the universe, Or when you are upon your 
knees, paying your vows to God in prayer, those earthly thoughts will 
come into your mind And there is no person without evil thoughts 
let them be ever so good and pious, yet evil thoughts will come into 
the mind and mar that sweet and heavenly theme. But this is what 
our holy religion is for, it teaches us to restrain our thoughts to guide 
us in the right and proper path which leads to virtue and holiness. If 
you were to tell many a person that they had by nature a wicked 
heart and that evil thoughts came into their minds very often, they 
would be quite offended. But nevertheless, it is true, and the first 
time that you go to the church or the prayer meeting just watch your 
own thoughts, and if no evil thoughts come into your mind I will give 
you leave to stone me for telling you a lie. 

There are some persons who have studied everything but their own 
mind and their own thoughts. They tell -us that those thoughts are of 
themselves enough to condemn us forever. But let me tell those peo- 
ple that those evil thoughts are the very thing that distinguishes man 
from the brute creation and makes him a moral being, and he is res- 
ponsible for the actions that his thoughts enticed him to do. No per- 
son can help evil thoughts from coming into their mind, but though 
they come into your mind, yet you have a will to change those thoughts 
and a understanding that points to you, what objects you are to think 
upon. We always think before we do a thing, but sometimes we 



m 

think wrong and do quite contrary to what we intended to do, and 
then we are vexed at ourselves, and say I was not thinking", I quite 
forgot, The mind sometimes gets confused when a person studies 
one subject too long. The mind is something like the body, if you 
keep the body working at one thing and in one posture all the time, it 
will get broke down, but if you shift from one thing to another it gives 
the body rest. And if you heep the mind thinking upon one subject 
all the time, it gets confused, dull, and heavy, that it does not care 
about studying at all. 

1 have often thought I should like to have all my thought painted on 
a piece of canvass* and hung upon the wall. What a fearful appear- 
ance it would have, it would make me afraid and ashamed to look at it 
We dont make our thoughts or create our desires, but we have to con- 
quer them. We always think before we desire, after we have had a 
good breakfast the desire of appetite is satisfied and we dont want any- 
more until we are hungry again, and if we had to cook our own din- 
ner, we would not begin to cook until we were hungery. But we 
had thought in our own minn what we were going to have for dinner, 
then our desires are increased, and we send our cook to get it ready. 
Suppose you have a roast turkey for dinner, and you go away to 
church and leave it in charge of the cook, do you not think about that 
turkey when you are in church? Yes, you think that you see the 
table covered, and the knife desecting limb from limb as plain as if you 
were at home, and you will even smack your lips and think that you 
are eating it. Now all these thoughts will come into your mind let 
you do as you please, you may change your thoughts on some other 
subject, but the object you love most you will think most about. I 
suppose a young man is in love with a yong woman, how he will think 
about her, and she will think about him, he would neglect his busi- 
ness in thinking about her, and he could not prevent those thoughts 
from coming into his mind, let him do his best till some other object 
came in the way, and draw away his attention from the one that his 
love was fixed upon, and we have always some plan in our mind that 
we want to put into execution, and we will turn it over and over in our 
minds a thousand times, and then we will get tired of it, and it will 
die away. If we were to put all the thoughts and ideas that come 
into our mind into execution, we would be in a great many kinds of 
business in our life time. But it is a good thing that we cant do just 
as we think or we would be very unsettled beings 

Whatever we see or hear, we are sure to think about it afterwards 
and this is what St. Paul means when he says that evil communica- 
tions currupt good manners. I have heard persons use words and 
language that I could have wished that I had been a mile of the very 
sound. The words came into my mind afterwards, and vexed me so 
much. There is nothing that corrupts a young persons mind so much 
as bad company, a young man or a young woman never would go 
abtray, were it not for the compauy that they kept. Company has 
been the ruin of more young men and women than any other thing, 



32 

Let the company be ever so choice their will be some black sheep 
among them, and there is nothing that will take man from his business 
so quick as company, Those who lived wicked lives when they 
were young they must have bitter thoughts when they grow old. 
When they think how they have mispent the better part of their days 
and time in folly and prodigality, When cares and sorrows come 
upon us, we should not think too much upon them for it will hurt us, 
and to think long upon them will only make us worse, we should do 
every thing to drive those thoughts away. 

And the weather has a great effect upon the organ of thought, if it 
be a dull,cloudy day, our thoughts are of a gloomy nature,andif it be a 
sunny day all is cheerful and gay. The cloudless serenity of a bright 
spring morning invigorates us with new life, our spirits are lively, and 
our thoughts are elated with joy and gladness, — with alacrity we enter 
the busy throng and engage in our daily avocations. If a man in. 
business was to sit down and enumerate all his losses, and tret about 
them,he would be unfit to carry on business. Because it casta a gloom 
and dampness upon his mind that it would be impossible for him to suc- 
ceed, as too much thought on any one subject distracts the mind, de- 
thrones the constitution and wrecks the human frame. Consequently, 
renders a person totally inadequate and but illy qualified for any kind of 
employment whatever. See those poor wretches who are laboring 
under affliction and sorrow, weighed down by dreary thoughts which 
forever hang in a dense cloud along their pathway through this un- 
friendly world — observe how they gradually decline and eventually 
sink into the grave. 

It is often the case that persons who think long upon any one sub- 
ject become melancholly and sedate. It was never designed by na- 
ture that man should devote his time to study, to the exclusion of all 
bodily or mental exercise, but to the contrary, he should set apart a 
portion of the day for his studies and a part to mental and physical re- 
creation, without which the whole system becomes torpid and inac- 
tive, rendering man incapable of enjoying the pleasures of society, or 
capable of engaging in the ordinary pursuits of life. Again, how fre- 
quently do we see young men, who are preparing for the practice 
of some profession or other, become almost entirely incapacitated 
from excessive study. If they do embark in their profession, they are 
obliged after awhile on account of ill health to abandon it. 



of Hope, 

Mope is one of the organs of the human mind, and all those who 
are large in this organ are in general happy, they always look at the 
bright side of a subject, And whatever they take in hand to do, they 
will do it if they should loose by it at the time, yet they hope to make 
it up at a future period. There are those whose organ of hope is very 
small, who live in a continually state of fear, and are in bondage all 
the days of their lives. Those persons always look at the dark side 
of every subject, and are ever thinking that they will come to want, in 
fact they think every thing is going wrong* And this is an organ 
which distinguishes man from the brute creation, for no animal has the 
organ of hope, they have no expectation of futurity, neither have they 
a thought of the world to come. 

But all men have more or less of this organ, and they could not 
live without it, they would die in despair and misery. These persons 
who have committed suicide were always very small in this organ. 

Dr. W in London examined a woman, who had cut her throat, 

and when he came to see her he examined her head, and found that 
she was very diffident in the organ of hope. The doctor inquired into 
her affairs and all he could learn was that she was a widow lady, and 
that she had seen better days* and had been in good circumstances. 
But she had become involved in pecuniary difficulties and it had so 
worked upon her mind and grieved her very much, so much so that 
she put an end to her life. I also read of another who had been sick 
for some time and she had three little children. Her husband was a 
carpenter and he used to go to his work early in the morning, and one 
morning when he was gone she arose out of her bed aud took her hus- 
bands razor and cut the two youngest childrens throats, and left them 
lying in the bed. When the woman came who attended upon her and 
the children, she went to the bedside where the children were lying 
and to her utter astonishment found the two children wiltering in their 
gore. The woman immediately called in some of the neighbors, and 
when the neighbors came in they went to the mothers bedside and 
asked her who had cut the childrens throat, she seemed quite astonish- 
ed when they spoke to her, and appeared as if she knew nothing of the 
matter. She began to cry and tore her hair, and the clothes that were 
upon her, and the people had to her hold down in bed till they sent for 
her husband, and when he came he did not know what to make of it 
either. The razor that had done the deed was lying all bloody on the 
table. By this time the mother had gone to sleep, and they thought 
that when she awoke she would recollect something about the chil- 
dren. Her husband believed that she was the perpelrator of the deed, 



34 

but said nothing to no one. The neighbors dressed the children] and 
laid them out on a table in the next room, and the mother never awoke 
and the children and mother were laid in one grave. She had told 
her husband the day before that she was going to die, and she was 
afraid to leave her children least they would be badly treated, and that 
very idea had worked upon her mind and the sickness at the same 
time had made her mad. Poor woman she had forgotten that beautiful 
passage in scripture where it says that he that feedeth the ravens and 
watereth the lilies of the forest, will he not also feed man, and 
leave thy little orphans to me and I will be a father unto them. 

If there be a faculty in the human mind, that man should always 
cherish it is hope. That which cheers man in the most lonely situation 
and in the greatest adversity it will bear him up, and enable him to 
conquer the greatest difficulties, tis like a ship on the ocean though the 
waves and storm should asail him on every side, and his body bending 
beneath the load of affliction hope will bear him up. 

Hope in the mind of man is like a star in the distant heavens, it 
enlightens his soul in the darkest scenes in this world, and there is 
nothing which brightens the hopes of man as the christian religion. 
It not only brightens his hopes with regard to this world but even 
through the ages of eternity. 

'Tis hope which cheers the mariner on the stormy ocean, though 
the storm should rise and the waves run high and clouds should gath- 
er around, and his poor bark almost swallowed up in the deep, yec 
hope cheers him, in this most dreary scene, the storm abates, the sun 
shines once more, upon the white spreading sails of the bark, his 
heart is made glad to see the glorious sun shining forth, and spreading 
his rays over the face of the mighty deep. 'Tis hope which cheers 
the soldier in the battle field, although his dear comrade should be cut 
down by his side, and he walking through human gore, and the distant 
bugle sounds charge on, his mind is bewildered and all the finer feel- 
ings of humanity are banished from his breast, and anger rages in 
every vein, even in this dreadful scene, hope whispers a flattering tale 
in his ear, and tells him he may escape and reach his home again, 
where he shall sit down and tell the dangers of the battle field. 

'Tis hope which keeps the exile alive, he who has been banished 
away from his native land, he stands upon the distant beach, and looks 
over the ocean with his heart heaving many a sigh, when hope paints 
the scenery of his childhood. He thinks on the village where he was 
born the school house, and the church which stood in yonder plain 
surrounded with tomb stones, the stream upon whose banks he has 
often played in the summer noon, and forest where he has aften gone 
when he was a boy, and robed the little birds of their young. 

'Tis hope that cheers the criminal in his cell, he who has broken 
the laws of his country and who is shut up in some dismal cell, where 
the light of day is seldom seen except it be through some small hole 
in the prison The poor wretch he is cast out from all society, and he 
thinks that every person looks down upon him, and that makes hi& 



35 

situation and punishment harder to bear. He reflects upon his condi- 
tion, and knows to seek pardon from man would be in vain, for he 
feels that the mark of a vagrant is set upon him, and to whom shall he 
fly for pardon, shall he die in dispair? No, hope points him to God, 
who is not only able but willing to pardon the most guilty sinner, yes, 
this very thought cheers him in his cell, and though the chains and 
fetters bind him down and even the gallows appear before him, yet 
hope shines in upon his soul and soothes the bitter anguish of his heart 
and it illuminates his mind like the glorious sun at noon day, whose 
rays spread lustre over the dreary scene. 

Hope cheers a person who has been long sick, and who has passed 
many nights with minds tossed to andfro,like the waves of the unsettled 
ocean, and though their frame be feeble, and the small spark of life 
that is in them be nearly extinguished, and the voice quivers when 
they speak, and the eyes become dim, and all that strength and vigor 
that nature once gave becomes exhausted, and life itself becomes a bur- 
den, even in this moment hope cheers the troubled mind. 

The mother who has brought forth her first born sob, bow she 
holds him in her arms and looks at him, Avith a heart full of love, and 
hope. She kisses him upon the cheek, and her mind and soul is filled 
with the idea of raising her first botn son. And look at her patience 
when sickness comes upon him, she sits night after night, over the 
cradle when all the world has gone to rest, snd nothing but sickness 
appear before her. Would she undergo all this suffering if she thought 
that her child, the darling of her heart, was never to get better ? No, 
she would die in dsepair, every cry that her child would give would 
rend her very heart and soul. But no, hope cheers her and gives her 
courage and strength of mind, and tells her though her child 
be sick yet he 'may live to be a man, and with this very idea upon 
her mind she brings forth her little child till he reaches manhood. 

And what keeps the child of affliction from sinking beneath its 
mighty load? *Tis this blessed hope which keeps her from sinking 
beneath its terrible weight. When a person looses all their property, 
and has been reduced, from affluence and the enjoyment of -wealth, to 
penury and want, by some unforseen circumstance, 'tis awful, and the 
sufferings and privations, are too much for language to describe. 

Napoleon, that mighty chieftain, the noble general, who swayed 
the sceptre of thousands, yea, over many countries, and at the sound 
of whose name the nations of Europe trembled to their very centre. 
He, at whose command mighty armies would come forth, eager for 
the scene of conflict and field of blood — he who delighted in the hot 
pursuit of his foe, to overtake and meet in deadly combat, who had 
been conquererof many a battle field: when sent to St. Helena, that 
hope which had cheered him in the deadly conflict, in many a scene 
of carnage and bloodshed, and gladdened his heart when crossing the 
Alps, and during his flight from Egypt's sandy plains, had disappeared 
and he could see nothing but gloom and despair in the distance, and he 
died without the hope of ever reaching his native land. 



26 

And what was it that cheered the fathers of America and enabled 
them to reach their their point and gained that great and glorious 
achievement. It was hope, yes, that hope of being a free people and 
entirely independent of any other government or nation. Possessing 
confidence in themselves, that they were competent to manage their 
own affairs, and show to the kings and princes of the earth the exis- 
tence of a better system of government than had ever been put in prac- 
tice. Which caused England to watch them with a jealous eye, hop- 
ing that at some future period to conquer and bring them again within 
her thraldom. But unfortunately for her, hope nerved the arms of the 
American armies and crowned them with abundant victory. 

But what are all these earthly hopes compared to those of a heavenly 
nature, The mariners hopes may be sweet away in the mighty deep, 
when thinking of his home, his wife and little ones, and longing for 
the day to come that he might embrace them in his arms. The sol- 
diers hopes may perish with him in the battle field, the exile may die 
in dispair of ever reaching his native land, and the criminal may loose 
all hope of ever getting free, and the poor man may pine away and die 
in his sickness, and he who has been brought to poverty and distress 
by the road to affliction, he may be disappointed in ever being rich 
again, but the christians hope, which is, as an anchor to the soul, both 
sure and steadfast, shall never perish, but it will be as a lamp to his 
feet and a guide to his pathway, that leads him safely through the cold 
embraces of death into the portals of eternal glory, where he may sing 
anthems of praise around the throne of God' 

The sun may cease to shine, and the hills may be removed, but the 
hope of the reward that God has promised to his children who serve 
him faithfully, shall never be obliterated, and when man has left this 
world and gone to another and a better world, he will still hope 
on thr ugh all the ages of vast eternity. 

Now, my dear reader, you see how necessary and important 
this organ is to mankind, and what a miserable being man would be 
were it not for this organ. In conclusion allow me to say to you, 
never loose hope, and more particularly that heavenly and divine 
hope. 



ON HABIT. 

I never was so much convinced of the force of habit till of 
late. I had been sick in the summer, and the doctor ordered me to 
smoke segars, I never had smoked any in my life, before, and 1 had 
always been opposed to smoking. But I thought that if it would do 
me any good I would try it. I sent for six cents worth of the real 
Spanish segars, and before I had one those segars half smoked I was 
quite sick. I tried it again and again, till it became quite a pleasure 
to me. And now since I have inured to it, I cannot do without it. 
Now there is great pleasure derived from smoking, a pleasure that I 
never felt before, and it is a harmless pleasure that injures no person. 
In fact I would rather do without my breakfast, or dinner than I would 
go without a smoke. There is a kind of enchantment derived from it 
that I cant describe. I can sit down and take a smoke, and I feel as 
happy as if I was in the company of twenty people, Now this is 
only habit. I felt as happy before 1 used it as what I do now. But 
then I never had known the use of it, and that is where the evil of all 
habits lie. And a man is happy in poverty, who has never knew what 
riches are. But if he has been raised from poverty to riches, and is 
again reduced to want, he feels the stroke very sensibly, and he will 
wish that he never had been rich. And it is the same when once a 
person acquires a habit, they eannot leave it off. And it is much easier 
to acquire a habit than it is to break it off, you form a habit by degrees 
it grows upon you and you have got into it before you are aware of it. 
Now for a person to break themselves of a habit, they must break 
themselves off all at once, and move the obstacle out of the way alto- 
gether. 

I will illustrate the evil habits that are practiced in all nations. The 
first is gambling. There is a kind of gambling carried on by all the 
nations of the world, although it may be in different forms. But I will 
confine my subject to our own nation. When the young man first be- 
gins he don't know one card from another, he has to learn each card, 
just like a child learning his alphabet. See him how he sits and learns 
the thing that will perhaps be his ruin. He may have been brought 
up by very religious parents, who gave him a good education, and set 
before him a good example, who taught him to abhor all such places, 
and to look upon all such men who gambled as bad members of society 
and that their company should be avoided. He listens with attention 
to what his parents says, and obeys them for awhile. He is invited 
by some of his companions just to come to the card table and look on. 
He goes and plays a game for amusement, he then begins to play for 
a cent a game, then six cents then he rises to a dollar. Does he stop 
when he gets to a dollar? No, he goes on from step to step, till he 



38 

strains that honest principle that his parents taught him, and he be- 
comes habituated to a vice that has no bounds. See the wretches of 
this vice how they sit playing over the midnight lamp, destroying their 
time and talents by a thing which is of no service to any man, but to 
those in whose house they are playing. He that wishes never to be- 
come a gambler must avoid the card table, never play for pleasure, nor 
to pass away the time, There is no pleasure derived from gambling 
it will enchant you, and give you pleasure while you are the winner, 
but very little gratification when you are the looser. You are stung 
to the heart as if you were pierced with a daggar. Can you call it a 
pleasure, in throwing away his fortune, and bring himself to poverty and 
wretchedness. But not only himself but others also. There are 
sweeter pleasures to be found than those derived from gambling, these 
pass like a cloud and leaves the heart to mourn, like a wreck after a 
storm. Some play to pass away the time, which is a bad way for a 
yon ng man to pass away his leisure hours, he had much better take a 
walk into the country, where he might behold the beauties of creation, 
where his mind would expand with the objects around, and his health 
would be increased by the refreshing air. All these vices are gener- 
ally confined to cities and to a certain class of individuals, who make a 
trade of it, and they go about looking for simple persons who is foolish 
enough to play with them. 

My advice to young men is, never take a card into his hands, it is 
the first thing, that will destroy his character, and give men a bad 
opinion of him, it is more easy avoided then than after you have learned 
it. Before a man will give it up, he generally looses all he is worth, 
and then he is obliged to give it up. 

The second evil habit to which men are adicted is swearing. Chil- 
dren imbibe this practice when they are young, they hear people 
swear and they dont know that it is wrong, and they swear also. 
Parents ought to be very careful how they speak before their children 
and they ought not to allow their servants to swear least their children 
should hear them. I have often been astonished to hear respectable 
men, men who were good scholars and yet they would use very low 
vulgar language. 

Now there is nothing so beautiful and becoming in any man than to 
use good language. It is immaterial what sphere a person is in, 
he ought to use genteel language. I never would put much confidence 
in a man who makes it a practice of swearing, for he has broken the 
laws of God, he would break the laws of man also. Some men when 
they get into a passion they seem as if they did not know what they 
were saying, for after their passion is over, they are sorry for what 
they have said, and are quite ashamed of themselves. There are 
others who cannot speak a word but what they will use an oath even in 
common conversation. Now they dont mean any harm by it, but only 
they have got into that habit and they never think of leaving it off. 
And what is more disgusting to the pious [mind than to hear a man 
blaspheme the Creator of the world and destroying that most noble 



39 

faculty which his Creator has bestowed upon him, yea, he lowers him' 
self with the brute creation, for they serve the end for which they were 
made much better than man. And what is more delightful than to 
here man praise his Creator, with a heart full of love and gratitude, 
and breathing good will to all the family of man. Whoever reads this 
essay if he be in the habit of swearing and using low vulgar language, 
let him abandon it forever, use good language, be kind and loving in 
your disposition free and generous in your manner. Remember that 
a young man's fortune sometimes depends upon his manners, as the 
world looks at this very much. There has been many a poor young 
man who has rose to very high stations in the world, from no other 
thing than his good qualities. And above all let a young man have 
the fear of God always in his heart. 

Lying.— -This is a habit men could dispense with very well, but 
there are few who speak the truth, and great talkers are liable to 
fall into this habit They talk so much that they always exag- 
gerate their story. And there seems to be a principle in man that 
when they have done wrong, they dont like to confess it, they 
will try and put it off on some other thing; and by trying to cover 
their faults, they tell a lie, and he that tells one lie, tries to hide 
it, which makes it worse. There have been several writers who 
have treated upon this subject but they have made the thing thread 
bare, the have made a certain line to which man can go, and no 
father. The best book that I ever read on moral philosophy was 
the Bible. Dr. Paley, one of the standard books on moral philos- 
ophy in England treats upon the subject of lying, and says that if 
a man is at home and does not want to be seen by people who 
call on them, he tells his servant to tell the people he is not at home 
Now he says that the servant is not telling a lie he is only doing 
what he is told to do. 

He might just as well have said that if a man steals goods from 
another, and gives these goods to some man, and tells him that he 
stole the goods, and he is afraid to sell them himself, but if he will sell 
them he will pay him for so doing. Is this an honest man, because 
he does what he is told to do? No, he is even worse than the man who 
stole the goods because he is accessory to the crime. Neither is a 
servant obliged to tell a lie, he is hired to work and not to lie. It 
would have been better for the servant and the master also, to have 
said that his master could not be seen, and neither of them would 
have told a lie. I must confess that I have done the same thing 
myself when I owed people a bill, and I knew they were coming to 
dun me for it, when I had not the money. I used to tell my clerk to 
tell such a man I was not at home, but my conscience told me that I 
was telling a lie, and I gave it up. And I have learned from experi- 
ence that truth is stongest. Why should we tell a lie or be afraid of 
our fellow man ? Sinning against God and our own conscience and 
ruining our soul. 

I knew a man who pretended to be a very religious he talked a 



40 

great deal about the beauties of Christianity, he abhored a mail that 
would tell a lie or do any thing that was wrong. He was a very rich 
and if any person asked him lor the loan of a dollar or two he would 
tell him he had no money. Now this man told a down fight lie, for 
he had plenty of money, but he did not want to 1 part with it. It would 
have been better for him to have said to the person that he did not 
make a practice of loaning, money, that they must try and get it some 
where else, 

There is a clergyman of our acquaintance, who was called on by a 
gentlemen for a charitable purpose, — the servant Went to the door, and 
the gentleman told him to tell his master that he wished to see him a 
moment. The boy conveyed the message to the Divine, and soon re- 
turned saying, "Masa sa I mus tell you he gone out sa." Our opin- 
ion is that this negro must have read Dr. Paley's Moral philosophy ; 
however, he evinced a greater regard for truth than his reverend 
owner. 

Now children are taught a system of lying when they are young, 
when a child cries the mother or the nurse, will tell it some story and 
promise it something nice if it will be good. Perhaps its not in her 
power to give it what she promised and the story that she told was 
quite a lie. Although this is done with no bad intention, yet it is 
wrong and ought not to be encouraged, The seeds of evil are so 
easily implanted upon the human mind when it is young, that it grows 
up with it. Some people say that, they could not do any business if 
they were|not to tell a lie sometimes, and it is necessary at certain times 
to sell their goods. This may be if a man buys all the rubishing and 
damaged goods that comes to market. He may have to tell the peo- 
ple that it is the best quality. But does the store keepers think that 
that the people are fools, if they are cheated once they will take care 
and mark that store. Some people get into a habit of lying by telling 
how many rich relations they have, and what a great family they have 
descended from, when perhaps at the same time it is all a lie, this is to 
make people think more of them, But if people have not got the 
qualifications themselves, this is a very poor way of showing off, but 
people will only laugh at them, after they are gone. This is a habit 
that all men should avoid, a liar is worse than a thief, you can watch a 
thief and lock things out of his way, but a liar you can't do nothing 
with him, and though he speaks the truth yott dont know whether to 
believe him or not. 

Stealing.— This is a propensity that some people are born with, for it 
is like no other habit* There are habits that men acquire from 
bad company, such as gambling, drinking, and swearing. But it 
seems all nations addicted to this vice, which shows that it is a natural 
propensity that some men have got by nature, and if these evil desires 
are not checked when the person is young they are sure to be ruined. 
We read of some very extraordinary men in the world, where these 
propensities show themselves such a man as Napoleon, whose desire 
for war, was very great. And not only for \var but even for plunder? 



4i 

for he robbed every country that he captured. There was a maw in 
Edinburgh by the name of Hogarth, who was a notorious thief, he 
was hung for killing a jailor. Now the people said that his fingers 
were made just for the purpose of picking peoples pockets, the two 
front fingers were just one length. Although he was a great thief, yet 
lie was a very humane man, and was sorry after he had killed the 
jailor, for he did not intend to kill him, only to knock him down and 
take the keys from him and escape. Every thing had been tried to 
reform and win him, from bad principles, but all was in vain, his dis- 
sire was so strong, unless some other power than that of man inter- 
ceeded, he had been in prison time after time but ali in vain. And we 
can see this principle in children when they are very young, boys will 
steal marbles, from each other, and they will steal cents from their 
parents, and buy candy with it. Now if this principle was checked 
when the child is young it would prevent that desire from growing 
upon the mind, but it appears to be so trifling that parents take no no- 
tice of it. And it is a bad plan to put money in ehildrens way, for 
they are sure to try and get it. And there are few that can be trusted 
with money, even after they are grown up. Men who are in large 
retail business loose a great deal by their clerks. Some think that it 
is no harm to steal from a rich man because they never miss it. But 
this does not make stealing any less, and he that would rob a rich man 
would rob a poor one also. But man should never let any of these 
habits grow upon him, because their is no knowing where'it will end. 
The next habit is drinking, and this is carried on in some countries 
to a greater extent than in others, and this seems to be an awful vice, 
wher once people give themselves up to it, and sometimes men will 
grow up and be far advanced in years before they take to drinking. 
There are many changes in man's life and these changes are the cause 
of many a man turning a drunkard. In prosperity his mind is exalt- 
ed and he is carried away with its tide. Men never acquire this habit 
all at once, its like every other habit, it steals upon him and he is not 
aware of it. Experience teaches us the evil of this habit better than a 
man can write it. We all see enough of it every day, and this is one of 
the greatest curses that ever visited man. My heart bleeds when I 
see some poor wretches lying prostrate in the streets beneath the very 
brute creation. Ah! how many a bright and intelligent man and wo- 
man has it destroyed, and how many a father's and mother's heart has 
it broken, to see their children cast away to vice and misery, those 
dear objects of their love, those tender ties of nature, those long cher- 
ished hopes that they so much delight in are destroyed by the evil 
habit of intemperance. And this habit is more injurious to the poorer 
classes of society than it is to the rich, the rich are able to afford it, 
and if they should get drunk they can go to their bed, and take asleep 
and no person knows anything about it. But the poor man either gets 
drunk before his work or after it, and some working men have a habit 
of getting drunk either Saturday night or Sabbath day, and they are 
are unable to go to their work on Monday. Thus they loose time, and 



42 

money also. And they injure whoever they are working for. It has 
been often said, that all men who drink are too free and good hearted, 
but I differ with people upon this subject. I have known men bor- 
row money from me and if I asked it from them they would tell me 
they had no money, and at the same time they would treat three or 
four of their cronies. 

When I was a boy their was nothing I hated more than to see any 
person drunk, and it has so stamped a kind of fear upon my mind, that 
I abhor the very sight of it, and I looked upon all those houses where 
it was sold as dens of vice. And places where men were made 
wretched and miserable. But though drujlkeness presented this horri- 
ble picture to me when I was a boy, yet when I grew up and went to 
learn a trade I then began to associate w r ith men where drink was 
sometimes used. I began to taste and from tasting to drinking. But 
I signed the temperance pledge when I was young and that has kept 
me from acquiring the habit of drinking, and had I not done this, I 
might have been like many of my fellow men, sometimes a little 
boosy. I will not say that a man should never take a glass of spirits 
for I have found a glass very good at certain times. Such as if a per- 
son were to get wet, or if they were to have a pain in the stomach. 
Some people use it as often as they take their meals but this is not us- 
ing it, it is abusing it, and they get into such a habit of taking it so 
often that they cant do without it. How many a poor man's child 
might get a good education were it not for this cursed drink. It has 
been said that all the great poets loved their glass of grog, and that 
some of the brightest orators could never speak in public until they 
had taken a glass or two. This I believe to be true, but some of those 
Poets died poor and miserable enough, from no other cause than hard 
drinking, and if a man gets into the habit of taking a glass of wine or 
other spirituous liqnors befere he goes to speak in public, he will 
become so habituated to it that they can never speak in public with- 
out it. Neither is it an honour to a man though he be a poet, or an 
orator if he is a drunkard. No, every man should shun the very idea of 
being a drunkard, and avoid intemperance as a deadly serpent. Can 
any man look upon the dejected and haggard look of his wife, the half 
starved condition of his children, brought on by that vice demon of 
destruction intemperance, and continue to partake of that accursed 
thing, Alcohol. 



LOVE AND MARRIAGE, 

As the destiny of man and woman lies in this great act, I call it a 
great act because their future happiness depends entirely upon their 
marriage. 

The love of the sexes is a universal law of nature and is not confined 
to man, but to all the brute creation. Tis the first and strongest law 
in nature, and a command of heaven by God himself at the beginning 
of the world. We see that every tribe love and court each other, every 
one after its own kind, and a man's love for woman is the strongest 
passion in his nature, and a woman's for man is equally ardent. All 
love and all court, and I will tell you where persons go to court and be 
courted. 

The first place is the tea party where they become acquainted with 
each other and this is an excellent place, for they can talk to each 
and then they will make appointments when they shall meet again, 
the night the hour, and then the courtship commences. The other 
place is the ball room. A ball is announced upon a certain night, and 
the young man goes and asks his fair one, if she will go with him. 
She gives her consent, and the night of the ball arrives and the two 
are their amongst the rest, the chandelier casts a bright light around the 
room, and the sweet music touches the ear, with its plaintive sound. 
The the handsome foot, and small ankle is shown ofTto every advant- 
age, for a small ankle and a neat foot is a part of beauty. The young 
lady skips upon the floor before her lover, her hair is neatly braided, 
and her clothes are handsomely made, and the music strikes upon the 
organ of sound, and causes a harmony to flow through the whole sys- 
tem, frome the crown of the head down to the sole of the foot, and the 
blush and sweet smile is to be seen on the countenance. The young 
lady sits waiting to be asked to dance, she holds out her fine delicate 
hand, and a handsome ring on the front finger, that her lover has given 
her, as a token of his love, he leads her to the dance and then they 
figure off to advantage. The young man is dressed off in his best, 
and while they are engaged in the dance, they form an attachment for 
each other. And the little acts of kindness that the young man can 
do he does, he brings lemonade, oranges, apples, and all these things 
are emblems of his love. 

The ball is broken up and the carriage is at the door, ready to take 
them home, the young man takes hold of the young ladies hand and 
presses it again and again, and sometimes he will give her a kiss. 
They arrive at the door, the driver alights from the box and opens the 
door. The young man takes his lady by the hand and escorts her 
into the house, then he is iuvited to call the next evening. He goes 



44 

Ihe next evening and then they talk over what they saw at the ball* 
who was the best dancer and the neatest dressed. 

Now what period balls and dancing were introduced into the world 
I dont know, but it must be very old. And it is the fashion in all 
countries, in the heathen as well as the christian. The Laplanders ire 
the frozen regions of Greenland have their balls and dances. And we 
lead in the Bible of King David dancing, and there is a set of people- 
in the State of New York called the Shakers who make dancing a 
part of their service. Now the ball room is one place where lovers 
get acquainted, and sometime old bachelors will fall in love at balls 
too. But the ball room is not the place to go and look for a wife* 
neither is it a good place for a young lady to look for a husband. They 
who frequent balls are very extravagant, and its expensive to keep 
them up it takes a great deal of money out of the young man's pock- 
et both for dress and other things that he could very well dis- 
pense with. Besides it takes away his mind from business. And a 
young lady sometimes gets acquainted with persons that are of no ac- 
count. But young people must have balls and dancing, and so there 
is very little use in saying anything against them. 

There is another place where people go to court, and that is the 
church, and I think of all places this is the best. And I would advise 
all young men and women to go to the church and look for a husband 
or a wife. Yes, the church is the place. 

Now I will give you my opinion on courtship, but I dont know 
whether you will agree with me. I believe that there are very few 
persons in this world but what have courted either less or more. 
And I dont know what kind of beings they are who have never felt 
sweet love, for love is heaven, and heaven is love. But I suppose 
you have all felt what love is, and have passed many a happy night 
and hour together, and these were the happiest days that you ever 
spent, and yet it was a love mingled with fear and jealousy, Some 
persons begin to court when they are very young, and they will court 
for years, and this is all lost time. A young man should never begin to 
court until he intends to get married, and what time he should get 
married is best known to himself, and he should please himself. If I 
were to tell the poor young man not to marry until he got rich, per- 
haps he never might get rich, and then he never would be married. 
And if a rich young man was to ask me when he should get married 
I would tell him to please himself, because if I told him he would not 
take my advice. And this is the greatest temptation either to man or 
woman, and that is the love of the sexes. And I would advise all 
young men who wish to spend old age in happiness to get married 
when they are young, and live a chaste and happy life. An early 
marriage has many advantages, over a late marriage. They who 
marry when they are young if they be poor they have a good chanco 
to get rich, if they be temperate and industrious. Never marry a wo- 
man you dont love for the sake of her money, this is base and very 
unmanly, although a great many do so. But remember that a good 



45 

virtuous wife is a fortune itself, although she had not a cent in the 
world. If you marry when you are young and have any children, 
you will be able to bring them up yourself and you will have the 
pleasure of seeing your children grow up to be men and women, and 
doing for themselves. And there is nothing which renders life more 
happy on earth than to see a fine family of children, and the father and 
mother at the head of them. And if any thing should vex the father, 
when he returns to his house his dear little children run and meet him 
and when he sits down they all flock around him, and his dear wife 
ever meets him with a smile, and this gladdens his heart at all times. 
Ah ! this is true happiness, it is to be found, in a man's own family, and 
sitting at his own lire side, with his wife and children sitting around 
him, and he not only sees his own children grow up, but his childrens 
children also. Now the man who marries when he is young has all 
these advantages, let him be either rich or poor. But if a man does 
not marry till he is advanced in years if he has a family its young, 
they are all young, and the father is not able to pay that attention to 
his children that he would do. He dies and leaves a young widow, 
and a young family to mourn his loss, and there is none so able to 
look to them as the father. When the father dies they are drove 
about by every one> and ii he should leave them any money they are 
very often cheated out of it by those in whose charge it was left. 
And if he be a poor man, it is still worse, for he has nothing to leave 
them. AJl ! young men early marriage is the thing, get married 
when you are young and you will escape many of the vices in this 
world, and it will make you more persevering in business, and above 
all things be pure to the wife of thy bosom, and let thy love be true 
to her at all times. Tis not good for man to live alone, he is a social 
being the Almighty saw that, and sent him a help mate. Man must 
have some person to reveal his secrets to, and to whom could he re- 
veal them with confidence but to his wife, she who is a part of him- 
self and as dear to him as his God. She who takes part in his lot, in 
his cares and sorrows, who rejoices with him in prosperity, who 
watches over him in sickness. But I ask what will not a woman do 
for a man if she loves him? But if you marry for the sake of money, 
or some other motive, there is no love, you will not live happy, there 
is no life so miserable, as when a man and a woman dont agree to- 
gether, you will wish in your own mind that you had never married. 
And as I said at the begining of my subject that loves is the strongest 
passion in our nature, love is stronger than all the riches in this world, 
A mother would not give the son of her love for all the world. 
When you hear of married persons parting you need not inquire what 
was the reason because they did not love each other. A criminal 
was brought to be executed, he had been a great robber and murderer 
and no person seemed to feel for him, but they rather rejoiced that he 
was to be hung. There was a woman standing away off crying, the 
people asked her'what she was crying at, and all she could say was that 
^he was my husband and I loved him. 



46 

The rich man Jooks down with contempt upon the poor man when 
he hears of his getting married. And he will say to himself, there is 
another poor wretch going to get married, I would like to know what 
he is going to do with a wife, he will be bringing a parcel of children 
into the world and who will keep them? And this rich man's father 
and grand father was perhaps a great deal poorer than the individual 
whom he looks upon with scorn. 

And some of the brightest genuses that has ever dawned upon tlie 
human stage, their fathers were shepherds and ploughmen. And 
who braved the stormy deep and won the laurek of a country? Twas 
the poor man's son, yes he fought the battles by land and sea. The sun 
might shine in vain and the rain might fall upon the earth, and the 
dews of heaven might be spread over the whole face of nature, but if 
the poor man did'nt labor nature would soon be a barren wilderness. 
Yes, 'tis the laborer who keep the world in motion. 'Tis the poor 
man who is the great wheel of the machination of the universe. 

The question is courtship and I have no doubt you want my opinion 
upon the subject, And to satisfy your curiousity, I will give you my 
opinion. But f will tell you before I begin that I will be very plain 
and tell you what I mean, 

As I said before all love and court, less or more, and those who 
tJont love, I dont know what kind of persons they are. Some persons 
will begin to court and they will court for years. They fall in love 
with a young lady, and they will court for five or six montlbs. The 
young man will take the young lady to church, to the theatre and all 
those places of amusement, he does this for sometime until he wins 
the young ladies affections, he will send her a ring or some little 
article as a token of his love. And all at once he will break off and 
go and see some other one, and he will do this perhaps for years and 
a person of this kind is not worth the name of being called a lover, no, 
he is a trifling fellow, and is playing upon the passions of the ladies 
that he goes to see. For a woman's love and affection is not like a 
man's, its more tender and sincere, and this of all lovers is the most 
to be dreaded. And I have set this down as a rule, and that is, he 
who runs about courting every one that he gets acquainted with, they 
make bad husbands, because they have no principle. And young 
ladies whenever a young man comes to court you, if he tells you that 
such and such a one is in love with him you may put him down either as 
a rogue or fool, if he has deceived others he will deceive you too. 
And those who go about looking for sweet hearts for years they are 
very often caught at last and they dont get so good a match as if he 
had married right off. Young man if you want to get married I 
will tell you how to do in a very few words. If your love and 
affection is set upon one woman, the sooner you get married the 
better. There is no use of courting for years, its all lost time, 
and a man may love a woman, but he is never sure that he will 
get woman for a wife, for something may happen that neither of 
them have any conirol over. Long courtships seldom make happy 



47 

marriages, no, they have built too much happiness upon their hopes 
and after they get married they get dissatisfied. In fact marriage is all 
a lottery, when people marry they dont know whether they will 
be happy or not. Two persons may get married and they may 
both be good, and yet not live happy, because their tempers dont 
suit each other. In fact you never know anything till you have 
tried it, and no person knows whether they are going to be happy 
till they are married. For the dispositions of both man and woman 
are changedafter they get married, and this is where the great secret 
of all marriages lie, and this has baffled men of learning in all ages. 
If a persons disposition was to remain the same after they were 
married, as before they were married, people might make matches 
by rule, but there is no rule for this, but one, and it is, virtue and 
chastity, these are the two grand rules for a happy marriage. For a 
chaste and virtuous person is always happy. I say then there is no 
rule by which a person can tell whether they are going to be happy 
after they are married, they must take their chance as thousands have 
done before them. But I will tell you that courting along time will 
never make you happy, six or eight weeks are quite long enough and I 
have known people that did not court more than one month and 
made as good and happy marriages as iftheyhad courted three or 
four years. And there is one thing that keeps a great many young 
men from getting married, they have not got a cent to bless themselves 
with, and they who married lor the sake of money, will live a poor 
life afterwards. No, there is nothing that will make a marriage 
happy but love. The man must love the woman, and the woman 
must love the man, we never can love that which we hate, and 
what we love we will try and adore it. You will never see a couple who 
love each other but what they are happy, the wife does every thing 
that is her power to please her husband, she will deny herself of a 
great many little things, for the sake of her husband. She will even 
forsake father and mother, her friends and home for the sake of her hus- 
band. The man in whom her love is fixed her hopes centered and 
upon whom her happiness and comfort depends. She looks upon 
him with an eye of affection and with a heart of love. She will do 
every thing she can do to please him, because he is the idol of her 
heart 

A man will do the same, if he loves a woman, he will do every- 
thing he can possibly do to please her and render her happy, he will 
work night and day, and every thing that he does? is a delight to 
him because it is for the object of his love. If a man be in ad- 
versity, and is brought to poverty to the very lowest, when all his 
freinds have forsaken him, the wife of his bosom who loves him 
will still cling to him to the very last. But a woman who loves 
not a man will forsake him in adversity. No. young man marry 
ior love, and then go ahead and make money, a good wife is a for- 
tune herself, although she may not be worth a cent. And this is the 
reason why there are so many bad marriages in this world,- — the reas- 



48 

on is they dont love one another, you must love one another. But 
the one half of people dont marry for love, You must be both one 
age and one disposition. If any thing, a young man ought to be eight 
or ten years older than the woman, but not over that. A young man 
can never love an old woman enough to make her his wife, neither can 
a young woman love an old man, its against nature, and does not look 
well. And I have often been astonished to see young women marry 
an old man, that have been old enough for her father. Its very 
seldom that a young man marries an old woman. If he does it is for 
the sake of her money, or the expectation that she will soon die, and 
then he will get a young wife. And if an young lady marries an old 
man its for the sake of his money, and she thinks that he will drop oft' 
soon, then she will get another husband, She won't take an old man 
the second time, she will have a young man, if he should not have a 
cent. 

Young man get a wife, and try to get one that can work, and one 
that will work; this is the best kind of all philosophy, and will stand 
longest — piano playing, philosophy and dancing are very fashionable 
at the present day, but it never stands long. There is nothing which 
makes me laugh so much as when I see the piano's turned into a 
washing tub, or a cooking kettle, and those fine delicate hands doing 
some house work. 

I hope you will excuse my vulgarity, but if I was to tell you how 
common I have been brought up you would not believe me. You 
would say when you saw me that I must have been a dancing master; 
and if you said so, you would be very much mistaken, for I have never 
danced in all my life. No, I was always too lazy — in fact I would 
rather work one day than dance two. I was learned to work and not 
to dance, and I have never had to regret that. Young man get a lady 
that has learned to work, it does not matter what you are, doctor, law- 
yer, you may have plenty of servants but you must have some one to 
look after them and show them how things are to be done, or else 
they will soon make you a slave. And then you will scratch your 
head, and wish that you had taken my advice. 

Young ladies when a young man is courting you dont court too 
long, neither be backward in putting the question to him, that is if you 
love him — never marry no man you dont love. The genteelest way 
for a young lady to pop the question is by writing a few lines in a 
parabolical style, and if he be a sensible man he will soon take it up. 
Be free and courteous to every one that comes to see you, and you 
must not suppose that all who visit you come for the purpose of 
courting you. This would be a very foolish idea that many young 
ladies have, they think that if a young man should come to their fathers 
house, that he has come to see them, when perhaps he had no inten- 
tion of courting whatever. 

Now I suppose youjvvould like me to tell you what sort of a wife I 
would like, since I have been writing so much about love and marriage 
but I will leave it for another time, for it would take up a volume. But 



49 

I will tell yon in the first place that I am a lover of strong coffee, a»d I 
like my breakfast in the morning before seven o'clock, I like to drink 
it after it is poured out, I want my wife to pour it out with her own 
hands, because I think I could eat and drink a great deal more if she 
were to pour it out. And in the second place, she must not drink any 
thing stronger than coffee herself, I suppose you know what I mean* 
And when she goes out I hope she will leave the key of the door some 
place that I might know where to find it. I always like to go neat 
and clean, and should like to see my dear wife do the same, and 
should never want to scold her; neither would I like her to scold me. 
I suppose many will say I am a fool for writing so plain as I have 
done. I have written this book so that every person can understand it. 
If I had written it in a more obscure style the readers would not have 
noticed my mistakes, as I am one of those kind of persons who like 
to be told of their faults. 



50 



/ 

THE EXILE'S SONG; 

Oh ! how sweet to reflect on the past, 

And think of out* youthful scenes, 
The cottage that stood at the foot of the hill. 

And the rill that around it did play. 

Their, many a day and glad hour we've passed. 

When the future it troubled us not, 
But time has passed on and these scenes are no more. 

But still to our heart yet are dear. 

The school house where first we were taught, 

The letters of A B and C, 
Are still as dear to our memory, 

Although we are far, far away. 

The church, that loved spot, where often we've gone, 

With our father and mother we loved dear, 
Where the hymns of the poet were sung 
And still their sweet sounds in our ear, 

Ah! little we thought in those youthful days, 

When our hearts were so full of play, 
That our lot would be cast on afar distant shore, 

An exile from my country far away. 

But still hope cheers us amidst these dark scenes 

And our hearts leap with joy and love, 
And though in this world from our friends we are parted, 
We hope we shall meet them above. 



EDITOR'S NOTE. 

This being our first attempt as an author, it is with no ordinary de- 
gree of timidity that 1 we present this little volume to the public 
scrutiny, being aware of its many imperfections ; more particularly in 
its mechanically execution. But we crave for it the indulgence of the 
critics eye, hopeing in our next publication to meet the tastes of the 
public, as we intend changing publishers. 

THE AUTHOR. 

P. S. The authors matter, proof, and revise, is contained in the 
work. THE PRINTER. 



« ^ 
^ 



